Automatic reconstruction of urban wastewater and stormwater networks based on uncertain manhole cover locations

International audienceAccurate maps of sewer and stormwater networks in cities are mandatory for an integrated management of water resources. However, in many countries this information is unavailable or inaccurate. A new two-fold mapping method is put forward. The first step consists in using imageprocessing techniques to detect buried network surface elements such as manhole covers on very high resolution aerial imagery. The second step consists in connecting them automatically using a tree-shaped graph constrained by industry rules. The method is tested on Prades-le-Lez, Southern France. The shape and topology of the reconstructed network are compared to the actual ones.The impact of the detected objects’ density is also assessed