Identification of Military Objects around Indonesia Using Public Domain Satellite Images

In space fairing countries, satellite-based remote sensing technology has been used for military purposes. Meanwhile, in other countries, like Indonesia, satellite-based remote sensing commonly only used for civilian purposes, such as agricultural and forest monitoring as well as urban planning. The main reason for the limited application is the availability of satellite images deemed qualified for military purposes. Therefore, the aim of the research is to identify military objects around Indonesia, using satellite images available in public domain. The data used is from Sentinel and Google Earth, and the techniques used are Index-based Built-up Index (IBI) for the medium resolution multispectral images, and toponymy for the visible-band images. The processing platform used are Google Earth Engine and ArcGIS. Due to the data characteristics, only statics military objects are able to be identified. Based on the mission urgency and similarity in geographical characteristics, two neighbouring countries, i.e. Malaysia and Singapore, are selected. The result show that in Malaysia, static military objects occupy total area of 139.47 km2, while in Singapore they occupy total area of 117.93 km2. The IBI of military facilities in Singapore is higher than non-military facilities, while in Malaysia is in reverse, which may indicate that Singapore invest more in military facilities. Such result concludes that public domain satellite images can be used to identify military objects.