Available with Image Analyst license.
Change detection is a fundamental requirement of remote sensing and raster processing. It is the process of comparing multiple rasters or images captured for one location at multiple times to identify pixels that have changed due to long-term, seasonal, or abrupt changes. ArcGIS Pro allows you to compare rasters and identify the magnitude and type of change using tools and raster functions available with the Image Analyst extension.
The Change Detection Wizard combines tools and functions to guide you through four possible change detection workflows:
- Categorical change—Identify the type of change that has occurred between two thematic or categorical rasters, such as land cover. You can save your final output as a raster dataset, a polygon feature class, or a raster function template.
- Pixel value change—Calculate the difference in pixel values between two continuous rasters, such as temperature rasters or multiband imagery. You can save your final output as a raster dataset, a polygon feature class, or a raster function template.
- Spectral change detection—Calculate the spectral difference between two multiband rasters by treating each pixel spectra as a vector. You can save your final output as a raster dataset, a polygon feature class, or a raster function template.
- Time series change—Identify the date of change in a time series of images using either the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) method or the Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery (LandTrendr) method. You can extract the date of earliest, latest, or largest change, or the total number of changes on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
The Change Detection Wizard is launched from the Change Detection drop-down button on the Imagery tab, in the Analysis group. The button is unavailable if you are not working in a 2D map scene, or if you do not have the Image Analyst extension.