Our mission:

Space Imagery is the best source for creation and updating of maps. Today in one hand high resolution remote sensing satellites collect high quality imageries per day up to 50 cm with a 1-day revisit time over the globe. The higher geometric precision and accuracy of the high resolution images provide an opportunity to map the world at very large scales with height information (3D) for different types of engineering applications. On the other hand radar data produces resolutions of about one meter and the aerial imaging technologies of resolution up to 10 cm have changed the face of map making dramatically. These resolutions improved the ability to map features which have traditionally required ground based surveying techniques. The time and cost in map making has been reduced tremendously with the application of high resolution space images. High-resolution satellites are equipped with sophisticated positional systems including GPS, gyros and star sensors. Based on this, a ground positioning in the range of 5-meter standard deviation is obtainable without ground control points. The orientation information of high resolution satellites is available as rational polynomial coefficients (RPC) and its accuracy can be improved dramatically by means of control points. Use of RPC for image exploitation and mapping has been widely adopted and has proven to be a robust and economic approach for mapping where rigorous physical sensor models may not be needed. Recent research has shown that detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) can be generated with high resolution satellite stereo pairs. The geospatial content is primarily moving from 2D to 3D and 4D. Imagery being acquired by high-resolution satellite delivers very rich scene content. In the past, most feature extraction methods have been studied based on aerial photography with a higher resolution of 10 to 25 centimeters, or satellite imagery with a resolution of 5 to 10-meter GSD. Extracting natural or man-made objects from high-resolution imagery of 0.5 to 2 meters is challenging. Digital image processing in the earlier days focused primarily on per-pixel processing. We now have many classification algorithms based on object-oriented image segmentation. Continued improvement on object-oriented image segmentation will allow the image analyst to work with homogeneous patches (polygons) of physical information in high resolution imagery. Successful development of feature extraction technologies from high resolution satellite imagery can greatly increase its usability in large scale mapping.

With efforts of previous years, various types of Maps including Thematic and Topographical have been produced by different mapping agencies through out the world. Recently the demands of maps extracted from the high resolution imagery in the preparation of different types of maps for Emergency planning, urban planning, Infrastructure mapping, Parcel mapping, disaster management and environmental monitoring have increased.

Terms of Reference:

• To investigate the update of topographic vector datasets, digital terrain models, orthoimages and thematic (landcover) datasets from high-resolution satellite and airborne imagery with emphasis on mapping in a production environment
• To assess links between high resolution images and mapping tools,developed through research and their implementation in mapping agencies
• To investigate how synergy may be achieved between the various sensors (high resolution and other), for topographic and thematic mapping
• To determine optimum methodologies for the integration of mapping data with high resolution images, to aid in the extraction of terrain information
• In collaboration with other ISPRS Working Groups, evaluate the information content and accuracy of the new high-resolution sensors
• To contribute to work on standardising the description of raster and vector contents of digital maps

Technical Commission Officers: