Digital aerial photography as information source for simulation models

Simulation models of coastal processes allow for better understanding of the dynamic nature of coastal environments and the possible impacts of different coastal zone development decisions. Knowledge of land use and land coverage is important for many planning and management activities in coastal zones. As many coastal areas are large and difficult to access, the use of digital aerial photography for data acquisition and monitoring in those areas was studied. Aerial photos were taken of an area in the Netherlands. First tests on generating land use maps from these photos using supervised classification (Minimum-Distance-Classification) are promising. The use of digital cameras for aerial photography has several advantages, including that the images are immediately available in a computer-compatible format. They can be directly displayed, manipulated, and processed using digital image processing techniques, including image enhancement and classification techniques.