Mapping urban large-area advertising structures using drone imagery and deep learning-based spatial data analysis
Abstract:
The problem of visual pollution is a growing concern in urban areas, characterised by intrusive visual elements that can lead to overstimulation and distraction, obstructing views and causing distractions for drivers. Large-area advertising structures, such as billboards, by being effective mediums, are significant contributors to visual pollution. Illegally placed or huge billboards can also exacerbate those issues and pose safety hazards. Therefore, there is a pressing need for effective and efficient methods to identify and manage advertising structures in urban areas. This paper proposes a deep-learning-based system for automatically detecting billboards using consumer-grade unmanned aerial vehicles. Thanks to the geospatial information from the device’s sensors, the position of billboards can be estimated. Side by side with the system, we share the very first dataset for billboard detection from a drone view. It contains 1361 images supplemented with spatial metadata, together with 5210 annotations.
Link to the publication: https://doi.org/10.1111/TGIS.13208
Link to the code and UAVBillboards dataset: https://putvision.github.io/UAVBillboards/
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