3D PROCESSING OF HIGH-RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES

High-resolution satellite images at sub-5m footprint are becoming increasingly available to the earth observation community and their respective clients. The related cameras are all using linear array CCD technology for image sensing. The possibility and need for accurate 3D object reconstruction requires a sophisticated camera model, being able to deal with such sensor geometry. We have recently developed a full suite of new methods and software for the precision processing of this kind of data. The software can accommodate images from IKONOS, QuickBird, ALOS PRISM, SPOT5 HRS and sensors of similar type to be expected in the future. We will report about the status of the software, the functionality and some new algorithmic approaches in support of the processing concept. The functionality will be verified by results from various pilot projects. We put particular emphasis on the automatic generation of DSMs, which can be done at sub-pixel accuracy and on the semi-automated generation of city models.