ASPRS

PE&RS February 2005

VOLUME 71, NUMBER 2
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING

Peer-Reviewed Articles

145 Automated Mapping of Stream Features with High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery: An Example of the Capabilities Donald G. Leckie, Ed Cloney, Cara Jay, and Dennis Paradine

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The capabilities of high-resolution, multispectral remote sensing imagery to map important stream features is investigated. Eighty centimeter spatial resolution CASI imagery was acquired in eight spectral bands over Tofino Creek on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A spectral angle mapping algorithm was used to classify stream habitat including hydraulic habitat, substrate material, and woody debris. Subclasses were attempted in terms of streambed material and water depth, but results were not reliable. A classification of deep water, moderate depth water, shallow water, sand, gravel and cobble, and woody debris in sunlit conditions, however, proved accurate (80 percent on average). Individual logs and piles of woody debris were consistently detected. Silty substrate in a tidal flats zone was also classified, but results indicated that different substrate material beneath the water may require separate classes and can result in problematic water depth classification. Patterns of general classes were reasonably represented within shadowed areas cast by isolated trees or groups of trees. However, problems do arise within lengthy shadowed stretches. Some boundaries of stream features with surrounding forest and between some zones of sand, gravel, and cobble were also misclassified. High-resolution, multispectral imagery in four or more bands combined with good geometric correction,image mosaicking, and appropriate automatic classification techniques offer a viable tool for stream mapping to meet a variety of issues and applications. In the future, a powerful suite of stream information may be compiled from multispectral classification combined with high-resolution thermal and lidar data.

157 Effects of JPEG2000 on the Information and Geometry Content of Aerial Photo Compression
Jung-Kuan Liu, Houn-Chien Wu, and Tian-Yuan Shih

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The standardization effort of the next ISO standard for compression of the still image, JPEG2000, has recently reached International Standard (IS) status. This wavelet-based standard out performs the Discrete Cosine Transform(DCT) based JPEG in terms of compression ratio, as well as, quality. In this study, the performance of JPEG2000 is evaluated for aerial image compressions. Different compression ratios are applied to scanned aerial photos at the1:5000 scale. Both the image quality measurements and the accuracy of photogrammetric point determination aspects are examined. The evaluation of image quality is based on visual analysis of the objects in the scene and on the computation of numerical indices, including RMSE, entropy,and Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR). The geometric quality of JPEG2000 with different compression ratios is studied for some photogrammetric operations, including interior orientation, relative orientation, absolute orientation, and DSM generation. The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of JPEG2000 for replacing JPEG as a standard in photogrammetric operations.

169 Shadow Analysis in High-Resolution Satellite Imagery of Urban Areas
Paul M. Dare

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High-resolution satellite imagery (HRSI) offers great possibilities for urban mapping. Unfortunately, shadows cast by buildings in high-density urban environments obscure much of the information in the image leading to potentially corrupted classification results or blunders in interpretation. Although significant research has been carried out on the subject of shadowing in remote sensing, very few studies have focused on the particular problems associated with high-resolution satellite imaging of urban areas. This paper reviews past and current research and proposes a solution to the problem of automatic detection and removal of shadow features. Tests show that although detection and removal of shadow features can lead to improved image quality, results can be image-dependent.

179 Spatial Classification of Orchards and Vineyards with High Spatial Resolution Panchromatic Imagery
Timothy Warner and Karen Steinmaus

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New high-resolution sensors offer the potential to apply remote sensing to a new, finer scale of problems. However, the highest spatial resolution imagery typically has only a single spectral band, and therefore, classification based on spatial patterns is required. One application particularly suited to spatial classification is the identification of orchards and vineyards. Orchards and vineyards have a distinctive repeating pattern that can be identified by an analysis of local auto correlation patterns. A classification algorithm based on an analysis of autocorrelograms was developed, and tested using Ikonos panchromatic imagery of Granger, Washington. The spatial autocorrelation-based classification resulted in an estimated accuracy of 0.954 and of 0.900. Errors of omission for orchards and vineyards were slightly higher than errors of commission (11–14 percent versus 3–6 percent). By comparison, a maximum likelihood classification of 32 gray level co-occurrence texture bands had a lower accuracy (0.865), with a of 0.701, and errors of omission and commission as high as 35 percent and 57 percent, respectively.

189 A Least Squares-Based Method for Adjusting the Boundaries of Area Objects
Xiaohua Tong, Wenzhong Shi , and Dajie Liu

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In this paper a least squares-based method is proposed for adjusting the boundaries of area objects in a GIS that is designed particularly for solving inconsistencies between the areas of digitized and registered land parcels. The principle of this approach is taking the size of the registered area of a land parcel as its true value and to adjust the geometric position of the boundaries of the digitized parcel. First, a generic area adjustment model is derived by incorporating the following two categories of constraints: (a) attribute constraint: the size of the true area of the parcel, and (b) geometric constraints: such as, straight lines, right angles and certain distances. Second, the methods used to adjust the areas of the parcels for different cases are presented. Third, the implementation of the proposed model is illustrated using several case studies. The results of the application and the corresponding analysis demonstrate that the proposed approach is able to maintain a consistency between the areas of the digitized and registered parcels. This study has solved one of the most critical problems in developing a land/cadastral information system, and this solution has been adopted in the processing of real world cadastral data in Shanghai and other cities in China.

197 A Least Squares Adjustment of Multi-temporal InSAR Data: Application to the Ground Deformation of Paris
Stéphane Le Mouélic, Daniel Raucoules, Claudie Carnec, and Christine King

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Satellite radar interferometry can be used to spatially monitor small vertical ground deformations. When millimeter accuracy is required, the differential interferometry technique is hampered by the ambiguity with atmospheric artifacts. It is also often difficult to obtain a precise evaluation of the kinematic evolution of ground deformations from a set of time, randomly distributed interferograms. We present the results of a least-squares approach coupled with a temporal filtering and applied to a large data set over the City of Paris. The mean deformation rate and a map of areas affected by time, non-linear deformation events are presented. We show that this approach, which provides a chronologically ordered set of phase screens, allows the retrieval of the kinematic parameters of ground deformations as low as 1 to 2 mm per year. Subsiding areas have been detected, and their evolution in time has been quantified. Such an approach can be useful to fully characterize the kinematic evolution of ground deformations in major cities or desertic areas where large areas have a high degree of coherence and where millimeter accuracy is often required.

205 Multidimensional Management of Geospatial Data Quality Information for its Dynamic Use Within GIS
Rodolphe Devillers, Yvan Bédard, and Robert Jeansoulin

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Metadata should help users to assess the quality (fitness for use) of geospatial data, thus reducing the risk of data misuse. However, metadata presents limitations and remain largely unused. There still exists a need to provide information to users about data quality in a more meaningful way. This research aims to dynamically communicate quality information to the users in a rapid and intuitive way in order to reduce user meta-uncertainty related to geospatial data quality, and then reduce the risks of data misuses. Such a solution requires a data model able to support heterogeneous data quality information at different levels of analysis. Using a multidimensional database approach, this paper proposes a conceptual framework named the Quality Information Management Model (QIMM) relying on quality dimensions and measures. This allows a user to easily and rapidly navigate into the quality information using a Spatial On-Line Analytical Processing (SOLAP) client-tied to its GIS application. QIMM potential is illustrated by examples, and then a prototype and ways to communicate data quality to users are explored.

Please see these links for the large color figures: Figure 6. Figure 7.

217 Urban DEM Generation from Raw Lidar Data: A Labeling Algorithm and its Performance
Jie Shan and Aparajithan Sampath

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This paper addresses the separation of ground points from raw lidar data for bald ground digital elevation model (DEM) generation in urban areas. This task is considered to be a labeling process through which a lidar point is labeled as either a ground point or a non-ground point. Mathematical formulation is presented to define the ground. A new approach is proposed that conducts one-dimensional labeling in two opposite directions followed by a linear regression, both along the lidar scanline profile. The study shows that the one-dimensional characteristic makes the calculation efficient, and there liability is assured by the bidirectional labeling process. Lidar data over suburban and downtown Baltimore (Maryland), Osaka (Japan), and Toronto (Canada) are used for the study. Quality assessment is designed and conducted to investigate the performance of the labeling approach by using manually selected ground truth. It is shown that 2.7 percent ground points are wrongly labeled as building points, and 2.6 percent building points are mistakenly labeled as ground points over the four study areas. Detailed graphic and numerical results are provided to illustrate the proposed labeling approach and its performance for complex urban areas

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