The Z/I Imaging Digital Camera System

Market needs for airborne and spaceborne imagery used in photogrammetry and GIS applications are changing. Fundamental changes in sensors, platforms and applications are currently taking place. Most recently, new high resolution spaceborne sensors have become available. Besides classical photogrammetry, new thematic applications will drive the future image market. Savings in cost and time, together with the need for higher and reproducible radiometric resolution or spectral information will push forward the change from analogue to digital imagery. High resolution satellites will compete with airborne film-based photography and digital camera systems.
With the availability of a digital airborne camera, it is possible to completely close the digital chain from image acquisition to exploitation and data distribution. The key decision regarding the camera design in this case is whether a linear or area array sensor should be used. In view of the high geometric accuracy requirements in photogrammetry, Z/I Imaging has focused development on a digital camera based on an area sensor. An essential aspect of this decision was not only the aerial camera system, but also the entire photogrammetric process to the finished photographic or mapping product. If this point of view is adopted, it becomes clear that the development of a digital camera involves more than simply exchanging film for silicon. Aspects such as data transfer rates, in-flight data processing and storage, image archiving, georeferencing, colour fusion, calibration and preprocessing have the same influence on the economic assessment of a digital camera system. This paper describes current development activities and application aspects of a digital modular airborne camera system.     

Integrating spectral and non-spectral data to improve urban settlement mapping in a large Latin-American city

ABSTRACT

Information on urban settlements is crucial for sustainability planning and management. While remote sensing has been used to derive such information, its applicability can be compromised due to the complexity in the urban environment. In this study, we developed a remote sensing method to map land cover types in a large Latin-American city, which is well known for its mushrooming unplanned and informal settlements. After carefully considering the landscape complexity there, we designed a data fusion method combining multispectral imagery and non-spectral data for urban and land mapping. Specifically, we acquired a cloud-free Landsat-8 image and two non-spectral datasets, i.e., digital elevation models and road networks. Then, we implemented a set of experiments with different inputs to evaluate their merits in thematic mapping through a supervised protocol. We found that the map generated with the multispectral data alone had an overall accuracy of 73.3% but combining multispectral imagery and non-spectral data yielded a land cover map with 90.7% overall accuracy. Interestingly, the thermal infrared information helped substantially improve both the overall and categorical accuracies, particularly for the two urban classes. The two types of non-spectral data were critical in resolving several spectrally confused categories, thus considerably increasing the mapping accuracy. However, the panchromatic band with higher spatial resolution and its derived textural measurement only generated a marginal accuracy improvement. The novelties of our work are with the successful separation between the two major types of urban settlements in a complex environment using a carefully designed data fusion approach and the insight into the relative merits of the thermal infrared information and non-spectral data in helping resolve the issue of class ambiguity. These findings should be valuable in deriving accurate urban settlement information which can further advance the research on socio-ecological dynamics and urban sustainability.     

Monitoring household upgrading in unplanned settlements with unmanned aerial vehicles

In-situ slum upgrading projects include infrastructural improvements such as new roads, which are perceived to improve the quality of life for the residents and encourage structural improvements at a household level. Although these physical changes are easily visible in satellite imagery, it is more difficult to track incremental improvements undertaken by the residents – which are perhaps more closely linked to the socio-economic development of the households themselves. The improved detail provided by imagery obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has the potential to monitor these more subtle changes in a settlement. This paper provides a framework which takes advantage of high-resolution imagery and a detailed elevation model from UAVs to detect changes in informal settlements. The proposed framework leverages expert knowledge to provide training labels for deep learning and thus avoids the cost of manual labelling. The semantic classification is then used to interpret a change mask and identify: new buildings, the creation of open spaces, and incremental roof upgrading in an informal settlement. The methodology is demonstrated on UAV imagery of an informal settlement in Kigali, Rwanda, successfully identifying changes between 2015 and 2017 with an Overall Accuracy of 95 % and correctly interpreting changes with an Overall Accuracy of 91 %. Results reveal that almost half the buildings in the settlement show visible changes in the roofing material, and 61 % of these changed less than 1m². This demonstrates the incremental nature of housing improvements in the settlement.     

Mobile GIS occupancy audit of Ulana informal settlement in Ekurhuleni municipality,South Africa

ABSTRACT

Relocating people in informal settlements and upgrading the lives of those people require consistent commitment, good strategies, and supporting systems. In South Africa, in order to allocate subsidized housing to beneficiaries of an informal settlement, beneficiary administration needs to determine the number of people who qualify for subsidized houses. Without geo-spatial data-based technical verification, conventional methods of occupancy audits are often cumbersome, are unreliable, and do not promote smart and evidence-based decision making. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to propose and develop an Oracle-based mobile GIS tool to conduct an occupancy audit for Ulana, an informal settlement in Ekurhuleni Municipality in South Africa. Android-based tablets were used to collect the geographic and socio-economic attributes of the informal dwelling units (DU). Spatial analysis (in ArcGIS software and geo-spatial modeling environment) and statistical analysis were conducted to produce the occupancy audit. The results indicated that the use of mobile GIS provides up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive, and real-time data so as to facilitate the development of smart and integrated human settlements. The results of this audit also indicated that only 57% of the households residing in Ulana could potentially benefit from receiving a subsidized house. Accordingly, the occupancy audit enables planners to plan appropriate upgrading and housing development strategies for informal settlement. This study demonstrates that successful planning of housing delivery for post independent integrated neighborhoods is not a mere political rhetoric but is viable when it is based on reasonable geo-spatial techniques and information. The use of mobile GIS therefore needs to be extended to other informal settlement upgrading projects in South Africa as well as other cities in the global south. However, proper professional training is required to ensure the successful usage of smart mobile GIS tools.     

关于空间信息获取技术的分析

空间3维信息获取技术与应用正在世界范围内蓬勃发展,新理论、新技术、新方法层出不穷,新思维、新方向更推动了地理信息产业不断向前发展。航空摄影技术与摄影测量技术;机载与地面激光扫描、地面移动测量与GPS定位等传感器的精度与速度都有了明显的提高。无人机、飞艇等低空获取技术在城市空间信息的获取和更新方面发挥了积极的作用。本文对数字城市建设中的信息获取技术进行了讨论,并对航空摄影、机载3维激光、无人机、飞艇等3维信息获取方法进行了阐述,立足关注自主创新产品,突出各个领域技术合作与互补,推动数字城市建设更上新台阶。     

UCD数码相机影像在武汉测区的应用

针对UCD数码航空影像在摄影测量中的空中三角测量和数字测图进行了相关的生产试验。试验结果表明UCD数码航空影像具有较好的成图精度,可以满足大比例尺航测成图的精度指标。根据试验结果对UCD数码影像的生产应用提出了若干建议。     

面向对象的高分辨率遥感影像地理要素提取

应用面向对象影像分类方法进行空间目标特征提取和分析,实现利用遥感影像建立与更新地理空间数据库,对于正在进行的数字城市建设和国情监测具有重要的意义和作用。本文阐述了高空间分辨率影像特征提取的关键技术,采用面向对象的特征提取技术和影像分类方法,开展了基于ADS40航空影像的地理要素提取实验,获得了比较满意的专题信息。     

On-the-fly server-based aerial imagery management system

Aerial images are valuable products when dealing with both geospatial and geotemporal analysis. Nowadays, they are widely used for many different purposes and by an extensive public, including private companies, official administrations and individual users. Although in the past few years there has been an increasing interest in showing all kinds of geographical information on the World Wide Web, access to aerial imagery and its dissemination are still difficult and lack flexibility. This paper introduces an aerial imagery management system based on client–server principles, operated so as to allow users quick and efficient queries, processing and management of huge sets of photogrammetric imagery stored on raster servers. It is a novel product that is ready to provide image-based cartographic data available in public and private digital warehouses, facilitating all the required visualisations and queries, as well as geometric and radiometric processing on the fly. This paper shows the design, system architecture and various functionalities of the system in a real-life scenario.     

航测大比例尺数字化测图中的若干问题

在航测全数字化测图软件还比较昂贵的情况下，立足现有高备，运用测绘新技术，进行大比例尺航测数字化成因，获取数字地图，为城市地理信息系统提供基础信息，对中小城市的测绘工作是一种较好的选择。     

Progress in the Development of a High Performance Airborne Digital Sensor

Joint development work by LH Systems and Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center) has produced encouraging results using forward, nadir and backward looking linear arrays on the focal plane to provide panchromatic imagery and geometric information, supplemented by further arrays to acquire multispectral imagery suitable for both high precision photogrammetric mapping and image processing for interpretative purposes. The geometric characteristics of line scanner imagery necessitate line-by-line rectification for aircraft tilts and shifts. Satisfactory execution of this process is enhanced by using supplementary data from high performance, on-board GPS and inertial measurement systems. Similarly, high demands are placed on other sub-systems, such as the camera mount, lens, electronics and storage technology. In addition to rectification for aircraft tilts and shifts, rectification for terrain characteristics is also required in order to generate colour and false colour composite images, since the various multispectral arrays are in different places on the focal plane. The special geometry affects triangulation. Thereafter, the imagery can be processed using existing software packages from both photogrammetry and remote sensing.
The concept has been demonstrated in several successful test flights and the production model is scheduled for market introduction at the ISPRS Congress in July 2000. The imagery from the new sensor will fulfil many market requirements between the highest resolution film imagery (<0.1 m) and high resolution space imagery (1m to 10 m). The sensor's unique blend of multispectral information with high quality geometric information will give rise to numerous new applications.     

Spatio-temporal modelling of informal settlement development in Sancaktepe district, Istanbul, Turkey

In less developed countries, the recent high rates of urban expansion are often associated with the emergence of informal settlements that may exaggerate social and environmental problems and impede sustainable development. An enhanced understanding of informal development may, therefore, be a key for future success in its effective management. This paper explores the possibilities offered by progress in Geo-Information Science and spatial modelling to improve understanding of informal settlement development through comprehensive spatio-temporal analyses. First, it investigates spatial and temporal patterns of the growth of the informal settlements in Sancaktepe district of Istanbul between 1990 and 2005. Second, using a logistic regression model, an analysis of the driving forces of informal development and prediction of probable locations of new informal settlements are performed. A list of spatial factors that are correlated to informal development is compiled and used to build six logistic regression models for different time steps between 1990 and 2005. Population density, slope, and proportion of informal settlements in the neighbourhood were found to be the main predictors influencing the spatial development of informal settlements during the study period. The performance of the models is evaluated and validated to identify those which best explain the informal development in the study area. As a result, three models built for 1990-1995 and 1995-2000 were selected to generate probability maps of informal settlement development, showing the likelihood for each location to be informally developed in the future. These results can be used as a basis for the evaluation of the process of informal development in other parts of Istanbul, as well as in other cities and countries. At the same time, the technique may serve as a decision-making tool for urban planners and policy makers.     

Virtual Cities From Digital Imagery

Increasing interest is being expressed in the use of virtual cities for many fields of application, ranging from planning and simulation to business, advertising and the games industry. Currently, the extraction of buildings from imagery is costly. However, recent developments in digital photogrammetry aim to produce more rapid and efficient methods of modelling three dimensional objects in urban environments. This paper presents a semi-automatic system for the extraction of buildings from digital aerial imagery with the aid of volumetric primitives. The user is supported by automated tools, for example matching tools, in order to reach the necessary efficiency. With an extraction time of about 20 s per building primitive, this method is competitive in terms of the performance of classical photogrammetric procedures, and also offers additional features for analysis, texture mapping and Internet applications.     

Spatial application of Random Forest models for fine-scale coastal vegetation classification using object based analysis of aerial orthophoto and DEM data

High spatial resolution mapping of natural resources is much needed for monitoring and management of species, habitats and landscapes. Generally, detailed surveillance has been conducted as fieldwork, numerical analysis of satellite images or manual interpretation of aerial images, but methods of object-based image analysis (OBIA) and machine learning have recently produced promising examples of automated classifications of aerial imagery. The spatial application potential of such models is however still questionable since the transferability has rarely been evaluated.We investigated the potential of mosaic aerial orthophoto red, green and blue (RGB)/near infrared (NIR) imagery and digital elevation model (DEM) data for mapping very fine-scale vegetation structure in semi-natural terrestrial coastal areas in Denmark. The Random Forest (RF) algorithm, with a wide range of object-derived image and DEM variables, was applied for classification of vegetation structure types using two hierarchical levels of complexity. Models were constructed and validated by cross-validation using three scenarios: (1) training and validation data without spatial separation, (2) training and validation data spatially separated within sites, and (3) training and validation data spatially separated between different sites.Without spatial separation of training and validation data, high classification accuracies of coastal structures of 92.1% and 91.8% were achieved on coarse and fine thematic levels, respectively. When models were applied to spatially separated observations within sites classification accuracies dropped to 85.8% accuracy at the coarse thematic level, and 81.9% at the fine thematic level. When the models were applied to observations from other sites than those trained upon the ability to discriminate vegetation structures was low, with 69.0% and 54.2% accuracy at the coarse and fine thematic levels, respectively.Evaluating classification models with different degrees of spatial correlation between training and validation data was shown to give highly different prediction accuracies, thereby highlighting model transferability and application potential. Aerial image and DEM-based RF models had low transferability to new areas due to lack of representation of aerial image, landscape and vegetation variation in training data. They do, however, show promise at local scale for supporting conservation and management with vegetation mappings of high spatial and thematic detail based on low-cost image data.     

地面移动测量近景影像的建筑物道路特征线段自动分类研究

根据影像灭点理论分析建筑物道路特征线与影像平面线段间数学关系,对影像所提取线段进行分类。实验通过立体影像中模拟数据和基于影像边缘提取线段的处理实现了地物特征线段的快速自动分类,无关线段过滤效果显著,是移动测量地物自动量测与影像理解的重要基础。     

Use of Kendall's coefficient of concordance to assess agreement among observers of very high resolution imagery

Ground-based vegetation monitoring methods are expensive, time-consuming and limited in sample size. Aerial imagery is appealing to managers because of the reduced time and expense and the increase in sample size. One challenge of aerial imagery is detecting differences among observers of the same imagery. Six observers analysed a set of 1-mm ground sample distance aerial imagery for graminoid species composition and important ground-cover characteristics. Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W) was used to measure agreement among observers. The group of six observers was concordant when assessed as a group. When each of the observers was assessed independently against the other five, lack of agreement was found for those graminoid species that were difficult to identify in the aerial images.     

基于SWDC-4航摄仪的城市基础空间信息获取

主要介绍利用SWDC-4航摄仪获取真彩色的数字航空影像,具有高分辨率、高成像质量的特点,并且可借助相关的后处理软件快速进行飞行漏洞的检查、图像处理、空三加密等.并通过实例分析了利用它进行城市基础空间信息获取的可行性,及成果的生成和精度评定,可在今后城市基础空间信息的获取中发挥重要的作用.     

非量测数码影像在航测成图中的应用

如何加速成图周期,快速、高效地生产各种地理信息产品是摄影测量应用研究的主要内容.本文介绍了非量测数码航摄影像在全数字摄影测量工作站上进行地理信息产品生产的技术方法和工作流程,研究了关键技术环节.     

THE USE OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING FOR FORESTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN

The Forestry Commission needs information on the woodland cover of the country, both as general assessment of all ownerships for woodland census purposes and as detailed crop data on its own forest estate for management purposes. These survey requirements are outlined and the methods used for data collection are described, particular attention being given to the role of aerial survey. The development of a digital mapping system is also covered. Finally, the potential role of other remote sensing techniques and the trials currently in progress are discussed.