Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword : GEO : a globally integrated approach to urban monitoring / Barb J. Ryan -- What's special about global urban remote sensing? / Qihao Weng -- Global urban observation and information : GEO's effort to address the impacts of human settlements / Qihao Weng, Thomas Esch, Paolo Gamba, Dale Quattrochi, and George Xian -- EO data processing and interpretation for human settlements characterization : a really global challenge / Paolo Gamba, G. Lisini, G.C. Iannelli, I. Dopido, and A. Plaza -- Urban observing sensors / Qihao Weng, Paolo Gamba, Giorgos Mountrakis, Martino Pesaresi, Linlin Lu, Thomas Kemper, Johannes Heinzel, George Xian, Huiran Jin, Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Bing Xu, Salman Quresh, Iphigenia Keramitsoglou, Yifang Ban, Thomas Esch, Achim Roth, and Christopher D. Elvidge -- Mapping the global human settlements pattern using SAR data acquired by the TanDEM-X Mission / Thomas Esch, Mattia Marconcini, Andreas Felbier, Achim Roth, and Hannes Taubenböck -- National trends in satellite observed lighting, 1992-2012 / Christopher D. Elvidge, Feng-Chi Hsu, Kimberly E. Baugh, and Tilottama Ghosh -- Development of a global urban area map using ASTER satellite iImages and existing GIS data / Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Xiaowei Shao, Koki Iwao, and Ryosuke Shibasaki -- Building of a global human settlement layer from fine-scale remotely sensed data / Martino Pesaresi, Vasileios Syrris, Daniele Ehrlich, Matina Halkia, Thomas Kemper, and Pierre Soille -- Spatial expansion of mega cities : monitoring and analysis of spatial dynamics and patterns in Chinese mega cities using multitemporal EO data / Hannes Taubenböck, Thomas Esch, M. Wiesner, Andreas Felbier, Mattia Marconcini, Achim Roth, and S. Dech -- Mapping and monitoring of refugees and internally displaced people using EO data / Thomas Kemper and Johannes Heinzel -- Exposure mapping in China using CBERS HR data / Linlin Lu, Huadong Guo, Martino Pesaresi, Daniele Ehrlich, and Stefano Ferri -- Climatological and geographical impacts on global pandemic of influenza A (H1N1) 2009 / Bing Xu, Zhenyu Jin, Zhiben Jiang, Jianping Guo, Michael Timberlake, and Xiulian Ma -- Investigations of the diurnal thermal behavior of Athens, Greece, by statistical downscaling of land surface temperature images and pattern analysis / Iphigenia Keramitsoglou -- Integrated urban sensing in the twenty-first century / Günther Sagl and Thomas Blaschke -- Object-based image analysis for urban studies / Vivek Dey, Bahram Salehi, Yun Zhang, and Ming Zhong -- Defining robustness measures for OBIA framework : a case study for detecting informal settlements / Peter Hofmann -- Automated techniques for change detection using combined edge segment texture (CEST) analysis, GIS and 3D information / Manfred Ehlers, Natalia Sofina, Yevgeniya Filippovska, and Martin Kada -- Fusion of SAR and optical data for urban land cover mapping and change detection / Yifang Ban, Osama Yousif and Hongtao Hu.

"Cities and towns are the original producers of many of the global environmental problems related to waste disposal, air and water pollution. There is a rapidly growing need for technologies that will enable monitoring of the world's natural resources and urban assets, and managing exposure to natural and man-made risks. The Group on Earth Observation calls for strengthening the cooperation and coordination among global observing systems and research programs. The book introduces this important international collaborative effort, reviews the current state of global urban remote sensing, and expands on future directions in the field. "--