Creating xBD: A Dataset for Assessing Building Damage from Satellite Imagery A

Keeping first responders safe as they go into post-disaster conditions to recover victims or assess structures drives the SEI’s work with the Defense Innovation Unit and first responders, such as Cal Fire, the California Air National Guard, and FEMA. Logistics, resource planning, and damage estimation are difficult tasks after a natural disaster, and putting first responders into post-disaster situations is dangerous and costly.

Using passive methods, such as analyzing satellite imagery, to perform damage assessment saves manpower, lowers risk, and expedites humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery. xBD is a new large-scale data set for advancing change detection and assessing building damage. We also present the Joint Damage Scale, a first attempt to create a unified assessment scale for building damage in satellite imagery across multiple disaster types, structure categories, and geographical locations.