AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

ISFEREA -- Enumeration of refugee camps (2003 - 2005)

Website Description: The aim of the project was to develop an operational way to enumerate refugee populations hosted in temporary settlements. The information is often provided to donor organizations which use it to define the size of aid and development programmes better. The enumeration of people derived from satellite imagery is always indirect. It is based on the enumeration of dwellings from VHR imagery. Field surveys provide information on the average number of people per household in camps. The total number of dwellings is then combined with the average number of people per household for a total enumeration of settlements. The role of Isferea was to devise a full methodology that could be routinely applied to enumerate refugees. It is based on the use of VHR imagery that allows the identification of single dwellings. The methodology relies on a combination of machine-assisted procedures, photo-interpretation and statistical sampling. Typically, the imagery is segmented in strata characterized by different densities of dwellings. For each stratum, a statistical assessment is made and then repeated for all the camps under investigation. Satellite imagery also allows to assess changes over time in the number of refugees by comparing the size of camps at various time intervals.

This project is directly associated with the following: Programs ISFEREA - Geo-Spatial Information Analysis for Global Security and Stability As part of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, ISFEREA conducts scholarly research on conflict monitoring, image information mining, disaster...