PE&RS May 2008

Ground truth data overlaid on a color combination of GeoSAR X- and P-band orthorectified radar imagery and X-band digital elevation data in Yazoo County, Mississippi.

Under contract to the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Aerial Photography Field Office, Fugro EarthData acquired airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) data over Yazoo County in August 2007 using its unique GeoSAR (X- and P- band) system that is permanently mounted on a Gulfstream II jet aircraft (inset). Semi-automated methodologies for crop identification from the GeoSAR data are currently being evaluated for potential use in USDA compliance programs. GeoCue has partnered with Fugro EarthData to enhance the effi ciency of the GeoSAR production process.

In the image, locations of ground truth data of calibrated soil samples are indicated by red data points while crop measurements from ground truth data are indicated by green data points. Varying crop heights and conditions (harvested, in-field, irrigated or non-irrigated, etc.) affect the way the X-and P-band radar signal interact with the crops. This results in the distinct coloration of the crops, which along with the ground truth data, allows us to distinguish between crop types.

For more information on GeoSAR, contact jjenkins@earthdata.com. For more information on systems integration, contact lgraham@geocue.com.

Highlight Article
555 Integrating Large Systems— A Case Study (Adobe PDF 203Kb)
Lewis Graham and Jake Jenkins

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554 Letter to the Editor (Adobe PDF 65Kb)
561 2004-2008 ISPRS Report (Adobe PDF 98Kb)
569 Grids and Datums — Kingdom of Cambodia (Adobe PDF 104Kb)
573 Book Review — Arc Marine: GIS for a Blue Planet (Adobe PDF 128Kb)
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575 Carolyn Merry Elected as ASPRS Vice President Graham, Hillyer and Knight Elected as Assistant Division Directors
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Peer-Reviewed Articles (Click the linked titles to see the full abstract)

601 A Standardized Probability Comparison Approach for Evaluating and Combining Pixel-based Classification Procedures
DongMei Chen

An objective approach to evaluate pixel labeling confidence in a classification and to combine classified maps generated from different classification procedures.

611 Shadow-Effect Correction in Aerial Color Imagery
Hong-Gyoo Sohn and Kong-Hyun Yun

A method to detect and remove cast shadow including diverse surface features.

619 A New Spectral Index for Estimating the Oriental Migratory Locust Density
Yong Zha, Shaoxiang Ni, Jay Gao, and Zhenbo Liu

The Oriental migratory locust density was estimated from satellite images based on a new spectral index.

625 Automated Searching of Ground Points from Airborne Lidar Data Using a Climbing and Sliding Method
Yi-Chen Shao and Liang-Chien Chen

A new slope-based filtering method, climbing-and-sliding, to select ground points from lidar point clouds for terrain modeling.

637 A Weighted Least Squares Approach for Estimation of Land Surface Temperature Using Constraint Equations
Mehdi Momeni and Mohammad Reza Saradjian

A new approach based on statistical theory of observations and error propagation to estimate temperature and emissivity from thermal radiation observations.

647 Comparison of Nine Fusion Techniques for Very High Resolution Data
Konstantinos G. Nikolakopoulos

The efficiency of nine fusion techniques: IHS, Modified IHS, PCA, Pansharp, Wavelet, Local Mean Matching, Local Mean and Variance Matching, Brovey, and Miltiplicative for fusion of QuickBird data.
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661 Performance of GPS Precise Point Positioning Under Conifer Forest Canopies
Erik Næsset and Jon Glenn Gjevestad

GPS precise point positioning as an alternative to differential GPS under conifer forest canopies using a stand alone GPS receiver.