Supporting Urban Mobility Challenges in Angola with EO

In Angola, nearly 70% of the population lives in cities due to rapid, often unplanned urbanisation. This poses major transport and mobility challenges, especially in secondary cities like Lubango, where informal road networks have developed organically.

The GDA Transport & Infrastructure (T&I) activity is partnering with the World Bank on the Angola Urban Sustainable Mobility Project, to improve transport infrastructure in secondary cities by better understanding existing networks, urban growth, and accessibility issues.

The GDA T&I consortium, in collaboration with CLS and IGN-FI, is monitoring and analysing Lubango’s urban and transport landscape using high resolution Sentinel-2 imagery, delivering Earth Observation (EO) based insights including:

• Road Network Inventory (2024): AI-enhanced analysis of Sentinel-2 and OSM data mapped main and secondary roads, especially in rural and peri-urban areas.
• Travel Time Estimation: Calculated walking and driving times to key locations like schools and markets, identifying gaps in accessibility.
• Urban Growth Mapping (2016–2024): Tracked Lubango’s expansion and unplanned development to support future infrastructure planning.
• Urban Characterisation: Classified areas into residential, commercial, industrial, and major workplaces to refine understanding of urban functions and mobility.
• Road Network Change Detection (2016–2024): Compared Road networks over time to identify changes, guiding investment for improved connectivity.

The results were shared via the consortium’s interactive data platform by IABG, allowing users to explore selected layers, adjust visualisation scales, and navigate the map easily, enhancing data interpretation and user engagement.

You can read more about this Case Study here: Satellite Data Helps Angola Tackle Urban Mobility Challenges