Use of Remote sensing and GIS

Satellite images offering high spatial resolution (Ikonos, QuickBird) can be used in remote sensing to help to the management of the protected area of the Historic Centre of Warsaw.

This satellite image is a fusion of the three visible spectral bands (4 m resolution) and panchromatic band (B&W, 1 m resolution) of Ikonos (10/16/2000). The fused image can be used to produce a colored image with spatial resolution of 1 m.

On this zoom in full resolution, the Stare Miasto (Historic Centre of Warsaw) is well visible with the red roofs of the reconstructed houses and the Royal Castle. We can see that there is no car and no parking space in the protected area which is devoted to pedestrian streets and places. Along the Vistula, the Stare Miasto is bordered by a large green band, as well as the top of the ramparts covered by grass.

This image is another color composite including the near infrared (NIR) band of the Ikonos satellite. The NIR band is placed in the red channel. This is very useful for all applications concerning vegetation studies. The grass on the ramparts is here in red color.

Such high spatial resolution satellite images can be used in GIS applications for the city management, including the survey of protected area as the Historic Centre.

In the case of the Stare Miasto, the portion of green areas is exceptionally high for the centre of a capital and is certainly an asset for Warsaw. But on the other hand, the highway (6 bands) along the Vistula river and the presence of one of the more important bridge in the protected buffer zone is certainly a weak point of the protecting plan.