Using Pleiades Neo data to detect building damage

Comparison with Pleiades-HR data following the earthquake in Morocco in September 2023

Abstract

This in-depth study of the use of Pleiades Neo satellite data in detecting damage to buildings, compared to Pleiades-HR data, focused on evaluating the performance of these two sensors following the September 2023 earthquake in Morocco. The results conclusively indicate that the higher spatial resolution of Pleiades Neo images significantly enhances landscape interpretation and damage detection in built areas. Specifically, this resolution gain led to the identification of an additional 74% damaged buildings in Marrakech to rectify 24% and 11% of the damage classification in the Marrakech and Imidal sectors, respectively. The study also highlights Pleiades Neo's capability to detect urban landscape details, such as crenels of ramparts, providing the potential to identify damages on other objects or structures of equivalent size; a capacity not as pronounced with Pleiades-HR. The results illustrate and confirm the substantial advantages of Pleiades Neo data for post-catastrophe assessment, with improved precision in damage detection and characterization. The significance of acquisition angle in imaging and the complementarity of Pleiades Neo with respect to Pleiades-HR in the context of emergency mapping were also emphasized. This study attests to the benefits of Pleiades Neo images over Pleiades-HR in managing building damage following catastrophic events.