ASPRS

PE&RS May 2002

VOLUME 68, NUMBER 5
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING

Peer-Reviewed Articles

423 Automated Photogrammetric Network Design Using Genetic Algorithms
Gustavo Olague

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This work describes the use of genetic algorithms for automating the photogrammetric network design process. When planning a photogrammetric network, the cameras should be placed in order to satisfy a set of interrelated and competing constraints. Furthermore, when the object is three-dimensional, a combinatorial problem occurs. Genetic algorithms are stochastic optimization techniques, which have proved useful for solving computationally difficult problems with high combinatorial aspects. A system based on genetic algorithms, EPOCA (Evolving POsitions of CAmeras), was implemented using a three-dimensional CAD interface. The system provides the attitude of each camera in the network, taking into account the imaging geometry, as well as several major constraints such as visibility, convergence angle, and workspace constraint. EPOCA reproduces configurations reported in the photogrammetric literature. Moreover, the system can design networks for several adjoining planes and complex objects, opening interesting new research avenues.

433 Towards Automating the Selection of Ground Control Points in Radarsat Images Using a Topographic Database and Vector-Based Data Matching
I. Couloigner, K.P.B. Thomson, Y. Bédard, B. Moulin, E. LeBlanc, C. Djima, C. Latouche, and N. Spicher

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Users of Radarsat images need ground control points (GCPs) to georeference their images, to rectify them, and to fuse these images. Because the selection of GCPs is usually done manually, the efficiency of the process depends on the ability of the operator to select a GCP. The present paper introduces a new method to automatically identify GCPs in Radarsat images using a topographic database. First, different strategies are elaborated to fit different contexts (topography, cost, availability of data, etc.). These strategies are then grouped in two approaches, i.e., vector-based data matching and raster-based data matching. Both approaches rely on matching feature classes (in ISO/TC211 parlance), e.g., matching "water bodies'' or matching "roads intersections'' from the image with their equivalent on the topographic database. A user of this method can easily follow the various steps of the GCPs selection process with the support of software tools. This paper presents in detail the method developed to select GCPs with the feature class "water body'' and the vector-based matching approach, and also presents some applications.

441 Automated Procedures with Coded Targets in Industrial Vision Metrology
Susumu Hattori, Keiichi Akimoto, Clive Fraser, and Harutaka Imoto

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In industrial photogrammetric measurement with CCD cameras, the number of target images may amount to several hundred when large and complex objects are involved. It is therefore impractical to use solely manual means to identify these image points. This paper reports on a further design for coded targets, which can be automatically located and identified, and also discusses special arrangements of reference targets called exterior orientation devices. These can be employed in conjunction with new computational schemes for sensor orientation to facilitate automated data processing. Procedures adopted to ensure sufficient speed and reliability in automated off-line digital photogrammetric measurements employing these developments, which have been found in practice to reduce data processing time by as much as 93 percent, are discussed and experimental results are reported.

447 Integration of GPS with Remote Sensing and GIS: Reality and Prospect
Jay Gao

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The advent of the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has not only enhanced the ease and versatility of spatial data acquisition, but has also diversified the approaches by which it is integrated with remote sensing and geographic information systems (GISs). In this paper the necessity of integrating GPS, remote sensing, and GIS is discussed following their definition. The current status of integration is reviewed under four proposed models: linear, interactive, hierarchical, and complex. Applications of integration are reviewed under three categories: resources management and environmental monitoring, emergency response, and mobile mapping. This paper reveals that linear integration is the most common. Hierarchical integration has found applications in precision farming and environmental modeling. The complex mode of integration is most valuable in diaster mitigation, emergency response, and mobile mapping. With limited cases in hierarchical and complex models, the full potential of integration has not been achieved. The prospects of integration are distributed mobile GISs and location-aware multi-media digital personal assistants. As mobile communications technologies improve, full integration will find more applications in many new fields after removal of the obstacles in integration.

455 Modeling the Potential Distribution of Forests with a GIS
A.M. Felicísimo, E. Francés, J.M. Fernández, A. González-Diez, and J. Varas

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One of the objectives of forestry planning is to set out criteria for a territory's reforestation oriented towards the reduction of fragmentation and the conservation of biodiversity. This objective may be attained by establishing for each forest type appropriate suitability models, which express the suitability of each point of the territory for the growth of each forest formation. The suitability models may be constructed by utilizing spatial analysis methods, which relate the current presence/absence of forest type to a set of environmental variables. On the basis of maps of diverse environmental variables, we elaborated suitability models for the forests present in the study area using logistic regression and weights-of-evidence techniques integrated into a geographic information system. Combining the suitability models for each forest type using simple comparison operators allowed us to construct a potential vegetation map to use as an objective orientation to the forestry potential of the territory.

463 Spatial and Temporal Analysis of a Tidal Floodplain Landscape-Amapá, Brazil- Using Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing
Valeria F.G. Pereira, Russell G. Congalton, and Daniel J. Zarin

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For at least 12,000 years, Amazonian floodplains (va;aarzea) have been exploited by human populations. Although they represent a small fraction of the Amazon basin, floodplains contain the most productive ecosystems of the region. Easy access and the abundance of valuable forest products have historically led to higher human population densities and higher resource use than in many interfluvial areas. Recent research has brought attention to land-use and land-cover change in upland Amazonian forests, but relatively little research has been conducted on similar dynamics in the floodplains.

In this project, we used photointerpretation of 1970s aerial photographs and digital image classification of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) 5 imagery from the 1990s to produce land-cover maps used for change detection analysis. A study area in the tidal floodplains of the State of Amapá, in the northern Brazilian Amazon, was evaluated. The accuracy of the Landsat TM classification and errors inherent to the techniques used were assessed. Several changes in the study site were observed, including increases in the areal extent of secondary growth and palm forests and corresponding decreases in intact várzea forest area.

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