newsletter vol6 no2 august 2012

7/31/2019 Newsletter Vol6 No2 August 2012

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ISPRS SCNewsLetter

Would you like to join SC Newsletter team? Do you want to

make a diference? Want to learn new skills?SC Newsleer is at a stage where geng broader and beer demands more people to be involved in theprocess of its formaon. Thats why SC Newsleer team is looking for the following volunteers:

- More people who would be willing to prepare arcles for exisng or new rubrics,- Designers of Newsleer

If you can help us with any of the above, please let us know!

[email protected]

And also...If you would like to publish your research work in the SC Newsleer send us your abstract on emailwrien above. We will soon contact you for further informaon.

This version ofSC Newsleer is licensedunder a Creave Commons Licence.

For more informaon about the licence visit:hp://creavecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/

SC Newsleer (ISSN Y506-5879) is publishedby ISPRS Student Consorum.

Frontpage designed by Ayda Akta

To join our members area visit

www.isprs-sc.orgEditor-in-Chief:

G r e g o r S T A V B A R

Technical Editor:

G r e g o r S T A V B A RA y d a A K T A

Proof-Reading:

S y l v i e B R O W N E

Editorial Board:

Dr. E m m a n u e l B A L T S A V I A SDr. M o j c a K O S M A T I N F R A SDr. A n k a L I S E CDr. K r z y s z t o f S T E R E C Z A KC e m a l z g r K I V I L C I M

Contributors:

A l e L A Z A R

C h a o - Y u a n L OH i r o y u k i M I Y A Z A K IK a j a K A N D A R ET h a n a s i s M O Y S I A D I SU r a K A N J I R
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs.org/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/mailto:[email protected]


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Table of Contents

2 SC CHAIR MESSAGE

3 SPOTLIGHTS The View by Ian Downman4 The ISPRS 2012 Technical Program

Melbourne, Sporng and Cultural Capital of Australia5 Interview with Prof. Clive Fraser

6 ANNOUNCEMENTS

The ISPRS Brock Gold Medal Awardee: Dr. Franz Leberl

7 PAST EVENTS REPORT

Geoinformaon Student Forum 2012

A COORDINATORS EYE

Overview of Remote Sensing and Spaal Informaon Researches andApplicaons in Taiwan

8 WEBSITE BULLETIN

9 ARTICLE.EDU

Spaal Resoluon with Respect to Imaging Geometry of Aerial and Satellite Sensor

Conguraons10 Mapping Aid Informaon for Transparency: Current Status and Expectaons

12 IT NEWS ENVI 5

RAPIDFORM

13 FUTURE ISPRS RELATED EVENTS

INTERESTING LINKS
http://www.isprs-sc.org/


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SC CHAIR MESSAGE

Dear Reader,

The ISPRS Melbourne Congress promises a close look at theexcing and challenging world of ISPRS. The recent techno-logical advancements and applicaons of new techniqueswill be showcased during oral/poster presentaons and at

the technical exhibion; new roles and demands from soci-

ety will be highlighted during the plenary sessions.

Our Newsleer team prepared this special issue of Student

Although preparing periodic arcles was not as easy as I thought in the beginning,I hope you were well informed and also enjoyed it as I did. The Newsleer has beenone of the key drives of SC acvies. Hence, special thanks go to the newsleerteam, to the writers who contributed, and especially to our Editor in Chief, Gregor

Stavbar from Slovenia who has paently organized and followed arcles to meetthe deadlines.

I would like to express my sincere gratude to ISPRS Council, TCVI, and WGVI/5 of-cers, specically to Dr. Manos Baltsavias who always took care of SC and providedgood guidance; to the ISPRS Foundaon, industry leaders and local sociees fortheir support; to SC Board members for always being an open and strong team;and to volunteers and supporters who merged their passion, energy and preciousme for the benet of a global youth network. Also, I am thankful to my familymembers who have supported me along this road.

Personally, when I look back in me, this has been a great pleasure and an ad-venture in the elds of science and networking. My rst iniaons in ISPRS werestarted when I was an undergraduate student almost nine years ago. During theISPRS Congress in Istanbul in 2004, I had the opportunity to be a student volunteerfor the Congress and parcipate in the youth-related events. With dierent desig-nated roles and dues, I have always been amazed at the synergy of generaonsand realizaon of acvies from ideas since the early days of SC.

I have had the honor and the privilege of represenng Student Consorum in manyplaorms as the rst elected SC Chair. With so many experiences, good memoriesand friendships, I feel and express myself as a fresh graduate from Student Con-

sortum. From now on, I hope that my engagement in the Student Consorum willconnue as a life me supporter.

As always, I encourage you to join and parcipate to the Student Consorum rightnow.

Best Regards,Cemal zgr KIVILCIM

ISPRS SC Chair(2008-2012)

Istanbul, August 2012

Consorum (SC) Newsleer, dedicated to the ISPRS Melbourne Congress, and it willbe distributed in hardcopy as well as in digital format.

Within the period of 2008-2012, SC reached almost 800 members from 87 countries.Accordingly, parcipaon in SC has tripled and expanded to a global geographicalcoverage compared with the previous term. SC volunteers either aended or orga-nized numerous events in order to promote the society and spread the energy of

youth. Furthermore, SC successfully organized four internaonal Summer Schoolsin America, Asia and Europe in cooperaon with WGVI/5, TCVI, local hosts and thesupport of generous sponsors. SC has also played specic roles during the ISPRSMid-Term Symposia and at the ISPRS Centenary Celebraons in 2010.

SC is playing a major part in the organizaon of the Youth Forum during the Mel-bourne Congress: a full day of technical sessions, a panel session and the SC Assem-bly. These events will all take place on Monday the 27th August. We are glad that theYouth Forum has become a tradional part of the Congresses, as it was originatedin the Istanbul Congress. There will be more informal social meengs for young par-cipants of the congress during the whole week and the SC booth will be available

at the exhibion hall.

Another important aspect of the Melbourne Congress is that the SC Board will handover the ag and I expect some of the members including myself will be replacedduring the SC GA. During the eight years of acvies SC climbed many peaks that werst dreamed and then aimed for. From now on, with passion and a desire of con-nuous development there will be higher points. I believe one day you might nda youth organizaon aliated with ISPRS SC in every member country. I wish goodluck and success to the next generaon of the SC Board for the next term.

By the me you read this issue, my contribuon of reporng news from SC in the

newsleer will be about to end. Within the last four years, I have tried to informyou about our mission and acvies, and report to you what has been going on.


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SPOTLIGHTS

In June 2010 I wrote an arcle for the Student Consor-um Newsleer and my message then was that themost important challenge for the profession, and forISPRS, is to ensure the future of the profession by fa-miliarizing young people with imagery and how it canbe used, and by educang a wide spectrum of profes -sionals and decision makers in the importance of usinggeospaal data for the benet of society at large. Thissll holds but it is interesng to see how ISPRS has de -veloped this policy in the last two years, and to considerfuture direcons.

The most interesng thing about the last two years hasbeen that the Student Consorum has developed in amost encouraging way without a lot of help from ISPRSCouncil. The Newsleer is a very professional publica-on and shows that there is plenty going on, includingSummer Schools and acvies with other sociees. Thisis clearly a good sign for the future.

Taking a broader view on ISPRS, I believe that the soci-

ety has made good progress during the past two years.Building on a very successful centenary celebraonin Vienna and eight very good Technical Commissionsymposia in 2010, the scienc side of our work hasprogressed through many workshops organised by theworking groups. The culminaon of this work will beseen at the ISPRS Congress in Melbourne where over1000 papers will be presented. Important develop-ments in the past four years will be discussed, includingkey topics like the use of the cloud, the collecon anduse of crowd sourced informaon, and new techniques

for processing data from laser scanning and digital im-ages. The Congress will also look at developments in

The ViewEarth observaon, not just the technical aspects, buttopics such as the relaonship between governmentspace agencies and space programmes and commer-cial acvies. Legal aspects of privacy and access to

data will be discussed. A key interest to young parci-pants will be educaon and capacity building. Techni-cal Commission VI, under the leadership of MarenMolenaar of ITC (University of Twente), has lookedat issues such as cross border qualicaon and hassupported iniaves such as the Geospaal Body ofKnowledge; the role and organisaon of CommissionVI has been reviewed by the Council and in the com -ing years we hope for co-ordinaon of capacity build-ing over the whole of ISPRS and beer collaboraonwith other organisaons working in this area. ISPRS

Council works with other organisaons such as UNOce of Outer Space Aairs (UNOOSA) to conductand support workshops. We have published a bookof case studies in disaster management with the JointBoard of Geospaal Informaon Sociees (JBGIS) andUNOOSA and are preparing another, more detailedbook at present. Of parcular note are workshopsin Vietnam, Nairobi, Ethiopia and forthcoming work-shops in Morocco and Chile. This aspect of ISPRS workis seen by the Council as being essenal if we are todevelop photogrammetry, remote sensing and spa-al informaon science for the future. In 2013 thesecond Lan American remote sensing conference(LARS) will be held. The regional representaves, whowere appointed for the rst me in 2008, are play-ing an important part in capacity building outside of

by Ian DowmanISPRS First Vice President

Europe and USA and it has been encouraging to seestudent parcipaon in regional conferences such asthe Asian Conference of Remote Sensing. We wouldlike to see more student parcipaon in Africa; UN-

OOSA and the ISPRS Foundaon are helping in thiswith travel grants.

At the General Assembly in Melbourne, the Council isproposing the introducon of an individual member-ship level in ISPRS. This will allow individuals to havedirect contact with the organisaon, even if there isno Ordinary Member in their country, or an inacveOrdinary Member. The subscripon rates will be veryreasonable for students and I hope that this will en-able many more students, in regions like Africa, to

become involved in ISPRS. This is also an opportunityfor the Student Consorum to extend its membershipand build acvies in new areas.

ISPRS is not a large organisaon, compared with FIGfor example, and we are small enough to work to-gether as a family. Council meengs are not too for-mal and council members are good friends as well ascolleagues. The Council is able to keep in touch withall of the acvies of ISPRS. I very much hope thatthose of you currently involved in the Student Con-sorum will soon become involved in other levels ofISPRS organisaon through parcipaon in workinggroups and commissions. We look forward to a pro-ducve and enjoyable Congress in Melbourne and tofour more years of progress for ISPRS.


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SPOTLIGHTS

The technical program will be eight excing days of workshops, presentaons andtechnical tours.

The main program consists of four plenary sessions, almost 200 oral presentaonsessions with up to eleven parallel streams, and short interacve (electronic poster)sessions. Each of the eight Technical Commissions will have an oral presentaonstream in almost every session, and the addional parallel streams will be specialsessions such as the Earth Observaon Forum, the Youth Forum, the ComputerAided Teaching Contest (CATCON) and the 16 th Australasian Remote Sensing andPhotogrammetry conference.

The plenary session will feature high prole, internaonally recognised speakersdelivering presentaons on topics such as the future of small satellites for Earth ob-servaon, the crical role remote sensing plays in monitoring climate change, and

the use of Earth observaon for early warning and disaster management.

The ISPRS congress in Melbourne is the rst to use electronic posters that allow dy-namic content. Short interacve sessions will commence with 3 minute taster pre-sentaons from every poster author. ePoster presenters will have the opportunityto discuss their presentaon with individual delegates at ePoster pods comprising alarge screen monitor controlled by an iPad.

All abstracts, presentaons and ePosters are available through the ISPRS 2012 Con-gress app for mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, as well as on theweb site. Delegates are able to search for any presentaon by author, session or key

words, and create their own personal schedule. Wireless access to the Internet isavailable throughout the conference and exhibit.

Technical tours will operate on two aernoons during the Congress. The choice oftours includes surveying and mapping producon organisaons, as well as innova-ve users of geographic informaon such as Lonely Planet and the Country Fire Au-thority. And for something completely dierent, delegates can visit the AustralianSynchrotron to hear about the latest discoveries in advanced physics.

All in all there is something in the ISPRS 2012 Congress programme to excite or de-

light everyone. Enjoy the experience!

The ISPRS 2012 Technical Programby Mark Shors

Melbourne is a vivid city, nestled in a compact state, providing easy access to anincredible variety of things to see, do and experience year round.

It was founded in 1835, 47 years aer the European selement of Australia, by emi-grant Tasmanians. Soon aer, during the 1850s, it was swamped by a gold rush andwas transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cies. The state cap-ital of Victoria is today to be the 2nd largest city in Australia, in terms of populaon.The city is situated in the south-east of the country, around Port Phillip Bay, with thecity centre posioned at the estuary of the Yarra River at the northernmost pointof the bay. Since the city is home to a number of major cultural and sporng eventsand instuons, it is oen called the Sporng and Cultural Capital of Australia.Melbourne is the birthplace of cultural instuons such as Australian lm, Austra-lian television, Australian rules football, the Australian impressionist art movement(known as the Heidelberg School) and Australian dance. It is also a major center for

contemporary and tradional Australian music. Apart from that, the city is knownfor its contemporary architecture, extensive tram network and Victorian parks andgardens. When living in Melbourne, you have access to more than 480 hectares ofparks and gardens, a greater proporon of open space than any other major city inthe world. Melbourne also has many wildlife preserves, including the MelbourneZoo which has a number of animals that visitors can see safely in their natural habi-tat, and the high-tech Melbourne aquarium.

Here are some interesng and funny facts about Melbourne, to help you know thecity beer:

Melbourne was the capital city of Australia for 26 years, from 1901 to 1927.

A person from Melbourne is called a Melburnian.Melbournes famous tramway system is the largest outside Europe and thefourth largest in the world. It stretches along 244 kilometres with 450 trams.About 90 tonnes of dog poo are le on the streets of Melbourne every day.Melbourne had the rst gay and lesbian radio staon in the world.Famous beer, Fosters Lager, was actually produced by two Americans.Melbournes rst census, conducted in 1836, showed a populaon of just 145men and 35 women.The expression call girl, meaning a prostute, was invented in Melbourne.The largest stained glass ceiling in the world is in Melbourne, at The NaonalGallery of Victoria. It is 51 metres (167.3 feet) long by 15 metres (49.2 feet)wide.Tunnels run almost everywhere in Melbourne.

Melbourne, Sporng and Cultural Capital of Australia


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Interviewby Ura Kanjir

SPOTLIGHTS

Clive Fraser is a professor at the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne (Australia). His main researchinterests are in digital close-range photogrammetry, industrial measurement systems and the metric exploitaon of high-resoluon satellite imagery. He also serves as

Research Director of the Cooperave Research Centre for Spaal Informaon and he is a Director of Photometrix Pty Ltd. In recognion of his academic and professionalwork he has earned numerous internaonal awards, including the Fairchild Photogrammetric Award, the Talbert Abrams, Wild Heerbrugg and Bausch & Lomb Awards,all from ASPRS; and the Presidents Medal, Presidents Prize and the E.H.Thompson Award from the Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Society. Professor Fraser has anumber of acve internaonal research and industry collaboraons, and he serves as a consultant to industry in Australia, Japan, the US and Europe. He is also author ofmore than 280 publicaons.

Can you explain to us

what are you research-

ing at the moment?

Two areas of primaryinterest: automaonin close-range photo-grammetry and metricexploitaon of high-resoluon satellite im-agery.

Let your interests

drive you!

Prof. Clive Fraser

Can you tell us something about recent developments

in remote sensing and GIS in Australia? In which do-

main is there an emphasis at the moment?

Australia is very much in synch with internaonal de-

velopments in remote sensing and GIS and thus it isnot unexpected that trends seen in Europe, Asia andNorth America are also very visible in Australia. Drivenperhaps by the needs of the resources sector and non-tradional applicaon domains such as the power in-dustry, there is a growing need for integrated spaalinformaon products generated from mulple sensortypes.

In your opinion how important is parcipaon by

young people in internaonal professional eventslike Summer schools, Congresses, workshops, etc?

What do you think are the benets of such acvies

to youth and to the profession?

Very important, for a number of reasons, the most no-table of which is meeng with new colleagues. For ex-ample, through networking you nd out what is reallygoing on in topical research and technological devel-opments (this informaon cannot always be gleanedfrom the literature). Also, you may get to develop your

presentaon skills. Another advantage is that you canmeet with peers from all levels, students to senior pro-fessors and industry representaves, who can provideinformaon and oer advice across a range of issues.

Finally, you can check out the state of the industry andprofession in relaon to future opportunies, be theyin research, or related to career development or jobopportunies.

What advices would you give to students and young

professionals regarding a successful career?

Let your interests drive you! Success will generallycome more readily when you are keenly interested inyour chosen vocaon.

Why did you choose this profession in the rst place

(maybe you can tell us something more about your

rst steps)?

Ever since I was young, I have had a keen interest inmaps and I worked in topographic map produconduring my student years. This introduced me to photo-grammetry and as I became more familiar with analy-cal aspects I realized that there were a lot of under-ex-ploited opportunies in the eld of non-topographic,close-range photogrammetry. Ive been essenallyconcentrang in this eld now for 35 years, thoughIm also interested in the analycs of photogrammetrymore broadly.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Brock Gold Medal is awarded quadrennially by the American

Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for an outstand-ing contribuon to the evoluon of photogrammetry, remotesensing and the spaal informaon sciences. Funds for the pro-vision of medals were given in memory of Arthur and NormanBrock, American photogrammetry pioneers who in 1914 builttheir rst aerial camera. In 2012, this medal will be presented forthe fourteenth me.

The ISPRS Brock Gold Medal Awardee

academic computer science and addresses photogrammetric

computer vision, 3D object reconstrucon, and image - basedmodeling and rendering. See his website at www.leberl.info formore details.

O. Univ. Prof. Dipl. Ing. Dr. Techn. Franz Leberl has been awarded the Brock GoldMedal for 2012 in recognion of his achievement of landmark developments in theelds of photogrammetry and remote sensing over the past 30 years. The Brock

Gold Medal recognizes a lifeme achievement and has been seen by many as thepremier award by ISPRS.

Franz Leberl grew up in Austria and received his degrees from Vienna Universityof Technology (1967 Dipl. - Ing. in Geodec Engineering; 1972 Doctor of AppliedSciences). He has worked in the Netherlands, California, Minnesota, Colorado andAustria. Today he is chair of the Instute for Computer Graphics and Vision at GrazUniversity of Technology, Austria.

His rst role was as an academic. His achievements include a pioneering role in

the development of radargrammetry and the applicaons of imaging radar, withthe publicaon of a denive textbook on the subject. He has also published over330 scienc papers and holds 15 patents. He has played a major role in mappingplanets using radar images. A second role was as a business man. He developedtwo successful companies, of which one manufactured and marketed a photogram-metric precision lm scanner, the UltraScan (over 600 units sold since 1998), and alarge format digital aerial camera, the UltraCam (about 250 sold since 2003). Theother company, in Colorado, USA, evolved into a major innovator in the area ofradar signal processing. The sale of these two companies led to a role as a directorat Microso Corporaons Virtual Earth business unit. A third role was as a researchmanager, as the CEO of Austrias largest public research organizaon with about

1000 employees, and as founder and director of the research instute for digitalimage processing at Joanneum Research in Austria. Today, his work is focused on

Dr. Leberl: This honor completes an amazing year for me, since in March 2012 Iwas recognized by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensingas the inaugural awardee of the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award; the

ASPRS specically menoned the UltraCam digital aerial camera development asthe reason for that award. The Brock Gold Medal has more the avor of a lifemeachievement award and recognizes an enre career with its many facets. Subjec-vely, I felt oen like an outsider in the eld, with dicules to nd sympathizersfor innovaons I had proposed. For example, in my late thires, I had diculesnding a professorial posion in photogrammetry and for that reason went intobusiness, and later on accepted an academic posion in computer science to workon computer vision, in lieu of photogrammetry. It is thus very grafying to nowreceive my peers recognion at the end of my career in fact, this means more tome than most may expect.

Photogrammetry, spaal informaon and remote sensing have been, and connueto be, very excing endeavours. The technologies are amazing, the rates of innova-on are staggering, the opportunies to succeed with good ideas and hard workare excellent. But the crux is in the rates of innovaon. The mental exibility,the visionary abilies that are in demand today have never before been challengedas they are now. Smart phones, the Internet-of-Things, ambient intelligence, thelocaon-aware Internet, vehicle and pedestrian navigaon all call for locaon andspaal informaon, not as this existed a while ago, but as it exists right now. Geois everywhere, at a density and urgency as never before. And all of humanity isbecoming an expert of locaon. What an amazing me we live in, what a privilege

to be young and able to contribute to the dynamics of photogrammetry, remotesensing and spaal informaon!

We asked the awardee, Dr. Leberl, to share with us few thoughts

about the medal and the science.

Dr. Franz Leberl
http://www.leberl.info/http://www.leberl.info/


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7

PAST EVENTS REPORTS A COORDINATORS EYE

On 23th of June 2012, the Geoinformaon Student Forum 2012 was successfully

held as an event at the G-Spaal EXPO in Yokohama, Japan. With the support ofJapan Associaon of Surveyors, it has been held every year since 1999 to promotestudents communicaon and networking over geoinformaon-related studies.

Geoinformaon Student Forum 2012by Hiroyuki Miyazaki

This year, 40 undergraduate masters and PhDstudents came from 14 schools across Japan topresent their research work in posters, videosand demonstraons. The topics ranged frombasic technique (remote sensing, photogram-metry, unmanned airborne vehicles, GNSS, wear-able sensors, and sensor network) to applied

research (environmental management, disastermanagement, urban studies, archaeology, psychology, locaon-based services, andregional informaon services). The forum provided a great opportunity to learnabout technological benets and applicaons. The students broadened their visionof their own work and smulated each others movaon. The program also in-cluded a lecture by Mr. Durk Haarsma, the publishing director of GIM Internaonal(www.gim-internaonal.com). His lecture provided informave insights on globalstrends in geospaal informaon technologies from the perspecve of his experi-ence in the geospaal industry. 137 people joined acve discussions at the presen-taon session and lecture session.

For more detail, please visit hp://gi-studentjp.co.cc/s_forum/.

The student group in Kansai (west part of Japan)is planning to hold the 4th Geospaal Informa-on Forum for Students and Young Engineers inKansai this November. I hope that the growingcommunity of Japanese students will expand toacve cooperaon with the internaonal stu-dent acvies of ISPRS Student Consorum.

Aer the successful conclusion of the 32nd Asian Conference on Remote Sensing(ACRS2012) and the 7th ISPRS Student Consorum and WG VI/5 Summer Schoollast year, remote sensing and spaal informaon sciences connue to prosper inTaiwan. The Naonal Space Organizaon (NSPO) operates and manages Taiwansearth observing satellite, FORMOSAT-2, which has a 2m spaal resoluon and aunique daily revisit capability. The Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research(CSRSR) of Naonal Central University is another key component of Taiwans re-mote sensing and spaal informaon infrastructure. The ground staon of CSRSR

receives several satellite data in real me and is an essenal data and service pro-vider for geo-spaal applicaons. In addion, there are 7 airborne LiDAR systemsand 6 large-frame digital cameras operated by governmental and private enes inTaiwan. Recently, an airborne hyperspectral image spectrometer has also been putinto service. In conjuncon with other high-end ground-based instruments, suchas terrestrial laser scanners and mobile mapping systems, these systems provide acomprehensive data acquision capability to support various studies and applica-ons.

In general, a wide variety of remote sensing and geo-spaal research and applica-ons is acvely being pursued in dierent governmental, academic and industrialsectors in Taiwan. Several topics have been of parcular interest recently. First ofall, because of its geographic locaon and geologic condions, Taiwan is vulnerableto natural hazards such as ooding and landslides induced by earthquake, typhoonand other extreme weathers. Therefore, environmental and hazard monitoringis an important task for remote sensing research and applicaon, including longterm land-cover monitoring and event-driven hazard invesgaon. For example,aer the devastang ooding and landslides caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009,a naon-wide high-resoluon digital elevaon model (DEM) was produced usingairborne LiDAR instruments, to beer understand the geological and geotechnical

Overview of Remote Sensing and Spaal Informaon

Researches and Applicaons in Taiwan

Fuan Tsai a and Chaoyuan Lo b

a

Associate Professor, Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, NCU, TaiwanbPh.D. Candidate, Department of Civil Engineering, Naonal Central University, Taiwan

See more on next page
http://www.gim-international.com/http://gi-studentjp.co.cc/s_forum/http://gi-studentjp.co.cc/s_forum/http://www.gim-international.com/


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8

A COORDINATORS EYE

properes of the enre country. Various studies have also been carried out usingremote sensing and spaal technologies to look into dierent aspects of these di -sasters and to provide decision- and policy-making support for disaster migaon,recovery and prevenon. This kind of task is not restricted to Taiwan only; similarmonitoring and analysis are also conducted at regional and larger scales. A recent

example is support for the disaster invesgaon and migaon eort of the 2011Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Another topic of interest is three-dimensional (3D) city modeling and its applica-ons. This eld of research integrates mulple remote sensing and spaal informa-on techniques to acquire and process heterogeneous spaal and non-spaal datato reconstruct mul-temporal 3D city models in mulple levels of detail. To fullyulize the constructed city models, 3D spaal analysis and visualizaon systems arealso important topics of development. Coupled with state-of-the-art communica-on, compung, and network technologies, 3D Geographic Informaon Systemsare the plaorm for urban planning, management, intelligent navigaon, locaon-

based services and other innovave applicaons using digital city modeling.

There are also growing acvies in educaon and internaonal collaboraon ingeo-spaal sciences and related elds. The universies connue to aract local andinternaonal students enrolling in undergraduate and graduate programs. In ad-dion to internaonal conferences, there are also short-term training courses andworkshops designed for internaonal students and young sciensts. For example,following the 7th ISPRS SC & WG VI/5 Summer School last year, the 1st InternaonalSummer School on Mobile Mapping Technology was successfully held this year andthere will be a workshop in remote sensing for Southeast Asian young sciensts inSeptember. Several similar events have also been planned for the next two years.

There are also internaonal collaboraon programs in Southeast Asia and CentralAmerica to develop geo-spaal infrastructure and build skills of local professionalsin these regions. Meanwhile, the leading organizaon of remote sensing and spaalinformaon sciences in Taiwan, the Chinese Taipei Society for Photogrammetry andRemote Sensing (CSPRS) has been and will be acvely parcipang in events andacvies of ISPRS, AARS (Asian Associaon on Remote Sensing) and other interna-onal sociees.

In summary, Taiwan has invested heavily in remote sensing and spaal informaontechnology. Educaon, research, development, and applicaon of geo-spaal sci-ences are in high demand. We will connue to devote ourselves to these elds andcooperate with the internaonal community through ISPRS.

WEBSITE BULLETIN

The ISPRS SC website was published just before the 2008 ISPRS Congress in Bei-jing, China. The next big congress is going to happen at the end of August in Mel-bourne, Australia. In the last four years, the website has been upgraded severalmes and new secons such as a photo gallery, materials, message boards, and

message box have been added. Needless to say, the latest version of our websiteis sll accessible on the Internet. You can start to benet from this website aer ashort membership registraon process.One of the remarkable advantages of the SC website is the easy exchange of infor-maon by means of the message boards which lets the membership get to knowmembers from dierent countries. Moreover, we will always keep you updatedwith the latest news and upcoming events, for which you will be eligible to registerat discounted rate. Four years aer the publicaon of our website, we are proudto say that the number of members has reached 760 members originang from85 countries worldwide.

Visit our Student Consorum website at www.isprs-sc.org and also join in on SC sFacebook group where members posts their quesons, opinions, study opportuni-es, etc.

by Ahmet engl
http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs-sc.org/


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In a remote sensing context, resoluon is expressed as the ability of an opcal in-strument to idenfy two points and make one object disnguishable from anotherby the eye. An analogue image is a connuous representaon of the surface beingrecorded, while a digital image is a discrete 2D array recording of target radiometricresponse, a collecon of picture elements (pixels). Spaal resoluon is a measureof the smallest object that can be resolved by the sensor, or the linear dimensionon the ground represented by each pixel in the image. Pixel size is not equal toresoluon. Images with the same pixel size may have dierent resoluon. Satelliteimagery gives an overview of a very large area in small scales with high spaal reso-luon. On the other hand, aerial photography, at much lower ying heights, usually

gives sucient resoluon when objects appear bigger than the grain size of thephotographic lm. The image pixels from a spaceborne scanner are oen idealizedas an idencal rectangular array with no overlap, arranged in a simple geometrical2D structure, while the grains in a photographic lm are of unequal size and irregu-lar shape in an irregularly arrangement.

The frame geometry of a lm camera images a large area all at once; therefore allpoints are imaged at the same me from one perspecve center. The pinhole cam-era model describes the basic geometry of the frame photograph. Each point in theobject space reects a light that passes through the pinhole and forms a uniqueimage point on the lm. This illustrates the collinearity of the point in object space,

the pinhole aperture and the point in the image plane. However, this ideal case isnot the norm; deviaons from the theorecally perfect imaging geometry of thecamera lens system exist, due to diracon. Therefore, a spot of light is generatedrather than a unique image point. Camera calibraon is able to compensate forthe distorons of the lenses and must be known in order to evaluate the stabilityand the performance of a camera. Other factors such as atmospheric haze, cameravibraon, and lighng condions also aect its performance.

The majority of satellite imagery is gathered with the use of electro-opcal sensors,where other geometries are used. In the point imaging geometry (whiskbroomscanners), the pixels within each line of the image are generated by scanning in thecross track direcon with mechanical moon. Each new image is generated by themoon of the plaorm, therefore synchronizaon is needed between the scanning

Spaal Resoluon with Respect to Imaging Geometry of Aerial and

Satellite Sensor Conguraons

by Thanasis MoysiadisDepartment of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly

speed and the plaorm velocity, to complete each scan in the me required tomove from one pixel to the other. The image geometry is therefore aected by themoon of the plaorm. In the line imaging geometry (pushbroom scanners), the

image is formed line by line and the sensor is oriented perpendicular to the moonof the plaorm. Perspecve geometry is achieved only in the direcon along thesensor; therefore an orthographic view of the image is formed in the direcon ofight only. The geometric strength of pushbroom images is poor, since each line isan independent image and has it own posion and orientaon due to the moon ofthe plaorm. In panoramic conguraon the imaging line is oriented parallel to thedirecon of ight and scanned perpendicular to the ight path giving a very wideeld of view. This has an adverse eect on uniform pixel size and therefore causesserious geometric distorons, due to the moon of the camera during the scan-ning, the variability in image scale across an image, and the distorons of the ImageMoon Compensaon (IMC) mechanism which is used to prevent image blur.

The Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV), an angular cone of visibility of the sensor ata specic me and at a certain altude, which largely determines the spaal resolu-on of the aforemenoned sensor conguraons, is therefore not rectangular, butdepends on the swath width, the detector design and the scanning mechanism.Even though at small scales with an ideal case of a uniform response from all pointsin the geometrical IFOV, it is oen the case that subpixel size objects (gure 1) maycontribute suciently to the received signal to cause the pixel intensity to dierfrom those of surrounding pixels.

Figure 1: Cases of mixed pixels (Fisher, 1997).

But even with a uniform intensity through-

out the IFOV, the response of the sensor toa source of radiaon will vary according tothe locaon of the source within the eldof view and outside the IFOV as well. ThePoint Spread Funcon (PSF) describes theresponse of an imaging system to nominalpoint source or point object; the ideal casewould be for the pixel response to be uni-form for all points within the IFOV. However,each pixel responds imperfectly to the signalas shown in gure 2.

See more on next page

ARTICLE.EDU


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ARTICLE.EDU

The spaal resoluon of an image is aected by the opcal aspects, the detectorsused and the imaging geometry conguraon of either aerial or satellite sensors,which cause geometric distorons. Among others, the above consideraons arequite complicated and must always be taken into account in relaon to the aim ofany research work.

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Since January 2012, I have been seconded to the Asian Development Bank in thePhilippines by the Center for Spaal Informaon Science, The University of Tokyo.I have found a lot of potenal forgeospaal technology to be a crical soluon fordevelopment issues. In this arcle, I would like to presenhepossibility thatgeospa-altechnology can improve transparency by a simple way: mapping.

While globalizaon accelerates the economy of the world, the benets are not

evenly shared and many people worldwide are living in a state of poverty causedby the process of globalizaon. For further global economic growth, proper man-agement of globalizaon is inevitably required. Mullateral development banks(MDBs) aiming at poverty reducon all over the world have been established topromote sustainable development. Financial aid donated by developed countrieshas been invested in projects in developing countries by MDBs but further nancialaid will be required for achieving the goal of poverty reducon. Transparency andaccountability to donors is a key factor for nancial aid to be connued. Moreover,transparency enhances informaon exchanges among aid agencies and leads tobeer decision-making and strategy through coordinaon and collaboraon, suchas reducing redundant businesses and promong joint businesses.

Open Aid Partnership (OAP) is a partnership aiming to improve transparency ofaid informaon. It focuses on the eect of visualizaon through maps as a way ofpromong comprehensive understanding of development projects. OAP has beendeveloping maps of aid informaon with geographical locaon informaon. Themost representave one is the World Banks Mapping for Results (hp://maps.worldbank.org/), which includes informaon on 30,000 acvies in all 143 of itsclient countries. The World Banks achievement in 2010 showed a good pracce ofenhancing transparency of aid informaon. As a result, other MDBs have startedplanning to publish their aid informaonon maps as well. In 2011, the African De-velopment Bank published their geocoded aid informaon (hp://184.73.156.57/

afdbprojects/). Apart from the partnership, the Greater Mekong Subregion Envi-

Mapping Aid Informaon for Transparency:

Current Status and Expectaons

by Hiroyuki Miyazaki,Project Researcher, Earth Observaon Data Integraon and Fusion

Research Iniave, The University of Tokyo

References:

Cracknell A. P., 1998. Synergy in remote sensing - whats in a pixel? Interna-1.onal Journal of Remote Sensing, 19, (11), 2025-2047.Fisher, P., 1997. The pixel; a snare and a delusion. Internaonal Journal of Re-2.mote Sensing, 18, 679-685.Mannstein, H., and Gesell, G., 1991. Deconvoluon of AVHRR data. Proceedings3.of 5th AVHRR Data Users Meeng, Tromso, Norway, 25-28 June 1991, EUM P09 (Darmstadt-Eberstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 53-58.Mikhail E. M., Bethel J. S., McGlone J. C., 2001. Introducon to Modern Photo-4.grammetry, John Wiley & Sons.

Figure 2: Point spread funcon for AVHRR (Mannstein and Gesell, 1991).
http://maps.worldbank.org/http://maps.worldbank.org/http://184.73.156.57/afdbprojects/http://184.73.156.57/afdbprojects/http://184.73.156.57/afdbprojects/http://184.73.156.57/afdbprojects/http://maps.worldbank.org/http://maps.worldbank.org/


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ronment Operaon Center, operated by the Asian Development Bank, has providedan interacve map of past, ongoing, and planned projects in theGreater MekongSubregion (hp://www.gms-eoc.org/gms-development-maptool). Such interest inmapping aid informaon is sll increasing.

For interoperability among informaon published by MDBs and other relevantagencies, the Internaonal Aid Transparency Iniave (IATI; hp://www.aidtrans-parency.net/) is developing standardizaon of aid informaon. IATIs eorts provideconsolidated aid informaon with machine-readable XML format on their reposi-tory (hp://iaregistry.org/); however, standards for locaonal informaon are sll

not well dened. Exisng maps are represenng project locaon by points althoughthere is likely much room for discussion of ways to represent geographical informa-on. For example, economic corridor projects should be represented by lines toindicate accurate geographical relaonships with other projects. Taxonomy of aidalso needs standardizaon. For example, the Asian Development Bank has a sec-tor for Transport and ICT, while the World Bank separates this sector into Trans-portaon and Informaon and Communicaons. This kind of dierence poses aconsiderable obstacle to coordinaon and collaboraon of a specic sector amongagencies.

Even though the need for standardizaon is well dened as menoned above, ap-

plicable technology is required for organizing a huge amount of exisng project

Figure 1: Map showing number of projects conducted by the World Bank.Source: hp://maps.worldbank.org/

data. For example, text data mining of data about project locaon and sector wouldbe greatly helpful to organizing exisng project informaon if done according toone standard. This suggests that standardizaon will need advanced informaontechnology in order to lead to eecve soluons.

In conclusion, mapping aid informaon is essenal for improving transparency. Inaddion, to ensure interoperability of the informaon, geospaal technology andrelevant technologies need to be developed in order to apply a common standard

to a huge amount of past informaon. As a seconded expert in the Asian Develop-ment Bank, I hope to contribute myself to deployment of geospaal technologiesin development issues.

Figure 2: Map showing distribuon of projects by sector. Descripon is shown with balloonby clicking marker on the map.

Source: hp://maps.worldbank.org/

ARTICLE.EDU
http://www.gms-eoc.org/gms-development-maptoolhttp://www.gms-eoc.org/gms-development-maptoolhttp://www.aidtransparency.net/http://www.aidtransparency.net/http://www.aidtransparency.net/http://iatiregistry.org/http://maps.worldbank.org/http://maps.worldbank.org/http://maps.worldbank.org/http://maps.worldbank.org/http://iatiregistry.org/http://www.aidtransparency.net/http://www.aidtransparency.net/http://www.gms-eoc.org/gms-development-maptool


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IT NEWS

Exelis Visual Informaon Soluons announces the release of ENVI 5, the nextgeneraon of ENVI, the companys image analysis soware which is usedacross industries by professionals who want to uncover hidden informaon ingeospaal imagery in order to make beer, more informed decisions. ENVI 5introduces imagery consumers to an innovave and streamlined user processfor their image analysis workow, making complex analysis tasks easier.

ENVI 5

Designed to make image analysis accessible to users of virtually any experi-ence level, ENVI 5 provides:

An intuive, easy-to-navigate interface.A highly-ecient display for large datasets.

New automated processes for several popular analysis tasks.A exible applicaon programming interface for customizing the sowareto unique user needs.

ENVI 5 was developed to introduce eciency and speed into the previouslycomplex workow of converng raw imagery into aconable informaon. Thenew, streamlined user process benets todays changing imagery consumer,from the GIS professional who needs to enhance a mapping applicaon forbeer geographic awareness, to the research scienst using imagery to aid incrical discoveries.

More:hp://www.exelisvis.com/ProductsServices/ENVI/ENVILatestRelease.aspx

Rapidform provides a full range of soware for point cloud processing (XOS), re-verse engineering (XOR) and dimensional inspecon (XOV). Rapidform sowareopens a world of possibilies with 3D scanners. Create parametric solid models

directly from 3D scans in Rapidform XOR. Use the intelligence of your CAD designsto automacally inspect parts with Rapidform XOV. Process raw scans into meshesand surfaces with Rapidform XOS.

RAPIDFORM

Rapidform XOR is the only reverse engineering soware that com-bines CAD with 3D scan data processing and it is purpose-built tocreate usable 3D models directly from scan data.It allows you tocreate parametric, editable solid models of virtually anything youscan.

XOV is safer, easier inspecon soware. Combine the power of3D scanning and CAD to verify parts quickly and thoroughly.Itsthe only point cloud soware that recognizes features, so you donothave to extract reference geometry before you dene dimen-sions and tolerances.Reproducibility is ensured by its automacfeature extracon algorithms, which reliably extract reference ge-ometry from measurement data without user intervenon.

Rapidform XOS is 3D scan data processing soware that convertsdata from any 3D scanner into high quality meshes and NURBSsurface models. It is compable with any 3D scanner and it isbest-in-class point cloud and mesh eding, XOS advanced hole-

lling, smoothing, and mesh opmizaon tools.

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More: hp://www.rapidform.com/home/
http://www.exelisvis.com/ProductsServices/ENVI/ENVILatestRelease.aspxhttp://www.rapidform.com/home/http://www.rapidform.com/home/http://www.exelisvis.com/ProductsServices/ENVI/ENVILatestRelease.aspx


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FUTURE ISPRS RELATED EVENTS INTERESTING LINKS

GIM Internaonalhp://www.gim-internaonal.com/

USGS Center for LIDAR Informaon Coordinaon and Knowledgehp://lidar.cr.usgs.gov/

RESOURCESGIS Datahp://gislounge.com/data-and-gis-resources/

Web Links Database - Geoinformacshp://www.weblinks.spakka.net/db/0?var=812

EDUCATION

GIS Graduate Programs Online at USChp://gis.usc.edu/gismsdegree/

FREE SOFTWARE

FUSIONhp://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/fusion/fusionlatest.html

TdhGIS is free soware for vector based analysishp://www.tdhgis.com/

JOBS, CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Geospaal Jobs and Career Centerhp://www.direconsmag.com/careers/geospaal-jobs/

JOURNALS

GeoInformacshp://uidbook.geoinformacs.com/GEO-Informacs_5_2012/

South-Eastern European Journal of Earth Observaon and Geomacshp://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/seejeog/index

RELATED ORGANIZATIONS, ASSOCIATIONS

ILMF - The Internaonal LiDAR Mapping Forumwww.lidarmap.org

ForestSAT 2012 Remote Sensing Conference

Oregon, USA, 11-14 September 2012For more info visit: hp://www.forestsat2012.com/

Auto-Carto 2012

Columbus, USA, 16-18 September 2012For more info visit: www.cartogis.org/autocarto.php

2012 SilviLaser Conference

Vancouver, Canada, 16-19 September 2012For more info visit: hp://www.inpe.br/geobia2012

SPIE Remote Sensing 2012

Edinburgh, Scotland, 24-27 September 2012For more info visit:hp://spie.org/remote-sensing-europe.xml?WT.mc_id=RCal-ERSW

2nd Internaonal Summer School for Cultural Heritage Documentaon

Sevilla, Spain, 24-28 September 2012For more info visit:hp://www.earsel.org/symposia/2012-symposium-Mykonos/index.php

First Lan America Conference of Free and Open Source GIS

Guayaquil, Ecuador. 22-23 October 2012For more info visit: www.ec.espol.edu.ec/LanOSGIS/index.php

XXII Internaonal Symposium on Modern Technologies

Educaon and Professional PracceSoa, Bulgaria, 8-9 November 2012For more info visit: hp://geodesy-union.org

ACRS 2012 , The 33rd Asian Conference On Remote Sensing

Paaya, Thailand, 26-30 November 2012For more info visit: hp://acrs2012.gistda.or.th/

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Internaonal Symposium on Remote Sensing 2012

Songdo Covensia, Incheon, South Korea10-12 October, 2012For more info visit: hp://www.isrs.or.kr/
http://www.gim-international.com/http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov/http://gislounge.com/data-and-gis-resources/http://www.weblinks.spakka.net/db/0?var=812http://gis.usc.edu/gismsdegree/http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/fusion/fusionlatest.htmlhttp://www.tdhgis.com/http://www.directionsmag.com/careers/geospatial-jobs/http://fluidbook.geoinformatics.com/GEO-Informatics_5_2012/http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/seejeog/indexhttp://www.lidarmap.org/http://www.forestsat2012.com/http://www.cartogis.org/autocarto.phphttp://www.inpe.br/geobia2012http://spie.org/remote-sensing-europe.xml?WT.mc_id=RCal-ERSWhttp://www.earsel.org/symposia/2012-symposium-Mykonos/index.phphttp://www.fiec.espol.edu.ec/LatinOSGIS/index.phphttp://geodesy-union.org/http://acrs2012.gistda.or.th/http://www.isrs.or.kr/http://www.isrs.or.kr/http://acrs2012.gistda.or.th/http://geodesy-union.org/http://www.fiec.espol.edu.ec/LatinOSGIS/index.phphttp://www.earsel.org/symposia/2012-symposium-Mykonos/index.phphttp://spie.org/remote-sensing-europe.xml?WT.mc_id=RCal-ERSWhttp://www.inpe.br/geobia2012http://www.cartogis.org/autocarto.phphttp://www.forestsat2012.com/http://www.lidarmap.org/http://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/seejeog/indexhttp://fluidbook.geoinformatics.com/GEO-Informatics_5_2012/http://www.directionsmag.com/careers/geospatial-jobs/http://www.tdhgis.com/http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/fusion/fusionlatest.htmlhttp://gis.usc.edu/gismsdegree/http://www.weblinks.spakka.net/db/0?var=812http://gislounge.com/data-and-gis-resources/http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov/http://www.gim-international.com/


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Planum Sponsor of the ISPRS Student Consorum

Please visit our SC web page www.isprs-sc.org where you will nd more informaon about Student Consorum, our previousNewsleer issues, SC acvies, photo galleries from previous Summer Schools, interesng links etc.
http://www.isprs-sc.org/http://www.isprs-sc.org/

newsletter vol6 no2 august 2012

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