Optimizing Dam Detection in Large Areas: A Hybrid RF-YOLOv11 Framework with Candidate Area Delineation

As critical infrastructure for flood control and disaster mitigation, the completeness of a dam spatial database directly impacts regional emergency disaster response. However, existing dam data in some developing countries suffer from severe gaps and outdated information, particularly concerning small- and medium-sized dams, hindering rapid response during disasters. There is an urgent need to improve the physical dam database and implement dynamic monitoring. Yet, current remote sensing identification methods face limitations, including a lack of diverse dam samples, limited analysis of geographical factors, and low efficiency in full-image processing, making it difficult to efficiently enhance dam databases. To address these issues, this study proposes a dam extraction framework integrating comprehensive geographical factor analysis with deep learning detection, validated in Sindh Province, Pakistan. Firstly, multiple geographical factors were fused using the Random Forest algorithm to generate a dam existence probability map. High-probability candidate areas were delineated using dynamic threshold segmentation (precision: 0.90, recall: 0.76, AUC: 0.86). Subsequently, OpenStreetMap (OSM) water body data excluded non-dam potential areas, further narrowing the candidate areas. Finally, a dam image dataset was constructed to train a dam identification model based on YOLOv11, achieving an mAP50 of 0.85. This trained model was then applied to high-resolution remote sensing imagery of the candidate areas for precise identification. Ultimately, 16 previously unrecorded small and medium-sized dams were identified in Sindh Province, enhancing its dam location database. Experiments demonstrate that this method, through the synergistic optimization of geographical constraints and deep learning, significantly improves the efficiency and reliability of dam identification. It provides high-precision data support for dam disaster emergency response and water resource management, exhibiting strong practical utility and regional scalability.