Location
Hill Aerospace Museum, Theater
Start Date
5-6-2014 1:42 PM
Description
Declassified Hexagon stereo spy images have near-global coverage extending back to the 1970’s, yet remain a largely untapped resource for land change studies. Unavailable satellite exterior orientation data for these images make digital elevation model (DEM) extraction difficult in terms of time and accuracy. A new automated workflow for DEM extraction is presented that eliminates the need for manual ground control point selection. The method is applied to reconstruct a DEM from 1974 imagery over a large glacierized region in the Bhutan Himalayas. Glacier changes over several decades are visualized using a DEM differencing method. These results demonstrate the value of Hexagon imagery when applied to land change studies.
A New DEM Extraction Method for Hexagon Spy Imagery and Application to Bhutan Glaciers
Hill Aerospace Museum, Theater
Declassified Hexagon stereo spy images have near-global coverage extending back to the 1970’s, yet remain a largely untapped resource for land change studies. Unavailable satellite exterior orientation data for these images make digital elevation model (DEM) extraction difficult in terms of time and accuracy. A new automated workflow for DEM extraction is presented that eliminates the need for manual ground control point selection. The method is applied to reconstruct a DEM from 1974 imagery over a large glacierized region in the Bhutan Himalayas. Glacier changes over several decades are visualized using a DEM differencing method. These results demonstrate the value of Hexagon imagery when applied to land change studies.