Urban area change visualization and analysis using high density spatial data from time series aerial images

Abstract Urban changes occur as a result of new constructions or destructions of buildings, extensions, excavation works and earth fill arising from urbanization or disasters. The fast and efficient detection of urban changes enables us to update geo-databases and allows effective planning and disaster management. This study concerns the visualization and analysis of urban changes using multi-period point clouds from aerial images. The urban changes in the city centre of the Konya Metropolitan area within arbitrary periods between the years 1951, 1975, 1998 and 2010 were estimated after comparing the point clouds by using the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm. The changes were detected with the point-to-surface distances between the point clouds. The degrees of the changes were expressed with the RMSEs of these point-to-surface distances. In addition, the change size and proportion during the historical periods were analysed. The proposed multi-period change visualization and analysis method ensures strict management against unauthorized building or excavation and more operative urban planning.