Object-Based Informal Settlement Mapping in Google Earth Engine Using the Integration of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and PlanetScope Satellite Data

Mapping informal settlements’ diverse morphological patterns remains intricate due to the unavailability and huge costs of high-resolution data, as well as the spatial heterogeneity of urban environments. The accessibility to high-spatial-resolution PlanetScope imagery, coupled with the convenience of simple non-iterative clustering (SNIC) algorithm within the Google Earth Engine (GEE), presents the potential for Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) to map the spatial morphology of deprivation pockets in a complex built-up environment of Durban. Such advances in multi-sensor satellite image inventories on GEE also afford the possibility to integrate data from sensors with different spectral characteristics and spatial resolutions for effective abstraction of informal settlement diversity. The main objective is to exploit Sentinel-1 radar data, Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope optical data fusion for more accurate and precise localization of informal settlements using GEOBIA, within GEE. The findings reveal that the Random Forests classification model achieved informal settlement identification accuracy of 87% (F-score) and overall accuracy of 96%. An assessment of agreement between observed informal settlement extents and ground truth dimensions was conducted through regression analysis, yielding root mean square log error (RMSLE) = 0.69 and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) = 0.28. The results demonstrate reliability of the classification model in capturing variability of spatial characteristics of informal settlements. The research findings confirm efficacy of combined advantages of GEOBIA within GEE, and integrated datasets for more precise capturing of characteristic morphologic informal settlement features. The outcomes suggest a shift from standard static conventional approaches towards more dynamic, on-demand informal settlement mapping through cloud computing, a powerful analysis platform that simplifies access to and the processing of voluminous data. The study has important implications for identifying the most effective ways to map informal settlements in a complex urban landscape, thus providing a benchmark for other regions with significant landscape heterogeneity.