Evaluation of High-Resolution Digital Images for the Landscape Characterization of Colonia Settlements

Colonia settlements, commonly described as rural unincorporated clusters of generally substandard houses, are scattered widely along the southern border of the United States. These settlements, which have proliferated without constraint largely because of the absence of effective controls on rural county land use, often lack access to essential services, such as public water, gas, electricity, telephone, and sewage disposal. A challenging problem in the southwestern border States is how to improve the living conditions of people residing in these settlements. Information about the infrastructure and geographic distribution of colonias will assist the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in making important decisions on funding grants and assistance programs for meeting the needs of these economically depressed areas. Consequently, the HUD Office of Research, Evaluation, and Monitoring, Washington, D.C., joined with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Reston, Va., to evaluate the potential of forthcoming commercial high-resolution satellite images for the landscape characterization of colonia settlements. Because the Government has high-resolution space sensor systems and commercial ones are planned, satellite images may offer a quick and effective way to gather information about economically depressed areas in the United States. Meanwhile, the USGS and HUD are investigating the applicability of high-resolution digital color images to identify and interpret colonia landscape characteristics. By creating simulated high-resolution 1-m digital color images derived from aerial cameras, this study examines the potential of future spaceborne orbital systems. Applying visual and automated interpretation techniques to high-resolution digital color images can distinguish between contemporary subdivisions with public utilities and colonias without utility structures. The research application of remote sensing, global positioning systems, and geographic information systems in this study yields important information on the usefulness and limits of forthcoming high-resolution spaceborne systems. The anticipated supply of commercially produced 1to 4-m resolution satellite data will increase the information available to Federal agency users, but where much finer detail is needed, quality source data will have to come from commercial low-altitude aerial photographs or Government high-resolution satellite images. HUD will need these higher resolution sources to succeed in gathering accurate information about colonia settlements through remote sensing. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.