Automation Aspects for the Georeferencing of Photogrammetric Aerial Image Archives in Forested Scenes

Remote Sensing

Kimmo Nurminen¹  Paula Litkey¹  Eija Honkavaara¹  Mikko Vastaranta²  Markus Holopainen²  Päivi Lyytikäinen-Saarenmaa²  Tuula Kantola²  Minna Lyytikäinen²  Lars T. Waser³ 

[1] Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, National Land Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 84, FI-00521 Helsinki, Finland; E-Mails:;Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland; E-Mails:Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI, National Land Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 84, FI-00521 Helsinki, Finland;

关键词: change detection;    digital surface model;    environmental model;    georeferencing;    image;    laser scanning;    map database;    orthophoto;    photogrammetry;    time series;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs70201565

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Photogrammetric aerial film image archives are scanned into digital form in many countries. These data sets offer an interesting source of information for scientists from different disciplines. The objective of this investigation was to contribute to the automation of a generation of 3D environmental model time series when using small-scale airborne image archives, especially in forested scenes. Furthermore, we investigated the usability of dense digital surface models (DSMs) generated using these data sets as well as the uncertainty propagation of the DSMs. A key element in the automation is georeferencing. It is obvious that for images captured years apart, it is essential to find ground reference locations that have changed as little as possible. We studied a 68-year-long aerial image time series in a Finnish Karelian forestland. The quality of candidate ground locations was evaluated by comparing digital DSMs created from the images to an airborne laser scanning (ALS)-originated reference DSM. The quality statistics of DSMs were consistent with the expectations; the estimated median root mean squared error for height varied between 0.3 and 2 m, indicating a photogrammetric modelling error of 0.1‰ with respect to flying height for data sets collected since the 1980s, and 0.2‰ for older data sets. The results show that of the studied land cover classes, “peatland without trees” changed the least over time and is one of the most promising candidates to serve as a location for automatic ground control measurement. Our results also highlight some potential challenges in the process as well as possible solutions. Our results indicate that using modern photogrammetric techniques, it is possible to reconstruct 3D environmental model time series using photogrammetric image archives in a highly automated way.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.