Target 9.1: Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and trans- border infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.

Infrastructures that are sustainable, durable and disaster-resilient, provide the basic and essential structures to a country to effectively function, but also allow to generate employment and wealth and drive economic development. This target is strongly linked to other sustainable development goals, including zero hunger, no poverty, good health and well-being, as well as quality education. Rural development processes, including access to markets, education and health services, cannot succeed without a reliable access to roads year-round. EO data can inform the production of efficient and effective plans for infrastructures development and management. The global coverage of remote sensing images allows the identification of areas currently lacking infrastructures for transportation or energy access. These data coupled with information on topography, land cover, precipitation patterns, climate change scenarios, can support the development of climate resilient infrastructures. EO data has been widely used to extract infrastructures such as urban areas, roads and dams using data at different spatial resolution (e.g. rural roads can be detected just with high resolution images) and different techniques (e.g. supervised and unsupervised classification, neural networks, and mathematical morphology). Research is also currently focused on using high resolution or radar data to monitor the status of infrastructures, particularly in areas prone to natural disasters, such as flooding, but also in areas affected by conflicts. The need to plan for regional and trans-border infrastructure is also well served by EO since it is technology that crosses borders and is not limited by a single country’s or region’s national data collection systems. In theory, open access EO data should help countries collaborate on shared infrastructure projects.