Remote sensing and geostatistics in urban water-resource monitoring: a review

Context At present, many cities are facing severe water-resources problems caused by urbanisation. With the development of remote sensing and geostatistics, they have been widely used in urban water-resource monitoring. Aims To review and summarise the application of remote sensing and geostatistics in monitoring urban water resources and prospect for their furtherdevelopment. Methods First, bibliometrics was used to analyse the existing literature in this field. We then discuss the use of remote sensing and geostatistics to improve urban water-resources monitoring capacity, focusing on the classification of technologies and equipment and their applications in urban surface-water and urban groundwater monitoring. Finally, a look at the future research direction is taken. Conclusions In the past decade, the relevant research has shown an upward trend. The use of remote sensing and geostatistics can improve the city’s water-resource monitoring capacity, thereby promoting better use of water resources in cities. Implications In the future, with the development and addition of deep learning, remote-sensing and geographic-analysis systems can be used to conduct remote-sensing monitoring and data analysis on urban water resources more accurately, intelligently, and quickly, and improve the status of urban water resources.