SpaceNet 8: Flood Detection Challenge Using Multiclass Segmentation

SpaceNet launched in August 2016 as an open innovation project offering a repository of freely available imagery with co-registered map features. Before SpaceNet, computer vision researchers had minimal options to obtain free, precision-labeled, and high-resolution satellite imagery. Today, SpaceNet hosts datasets developed by its own team, along with data sets from projects like IARPA’s Functional Map of the World (fMoW).

The SpaceNet 8 Flood Detection Challenge focuses on infrastructure and flood mapping related to hurricanes and heavy rains that cause route obstructions and significant damage. The goal of SpaceNet 8 is to leverage the existing repository of datasets and algorithms from SpaceNet Challenges 1-7 and apply them to a real-world disaster response scenario, expanding to multiclass feature extraction and characterization. 

Since its launch in 2016, SpaceNet has made significant progress advancing open-source building footprint and road extraction algorithms. During SpaceNet 8, challenge participants trained algorithms on imagery and labels from previous challenges—as well as newly created labeled training datasets from Maxar—to rapidly map an area affected by flooding.

Learn more about the SpaceNet Flood Detection challenge here.