Dem Extraction from High-resolution Direct Digital Airborne Imagery

The imaging component of the Airborne Integrated Mapping System (AIMS), developed at The Center for Mapping at The Ohio State University, is currently based on a high-resolution Charge-Coupled Device (CCD), a solid-state imaging sensor, which captures 4K by 4K panchromatic imagery. The use of direct digital image data, as well as the relatively new exploitation of the exterior orientation, which is computed directly from positioning sensor data itself, raise many questions concerning the entire photogrammetric data reduction process, including data quality and accuracy aspects. This paper investigates these problems in context of DEM extraction. Based on the results of several test flights, DEMs have been extracted in softcopy environment using different digital photogrammetric systems. Comparison analysis included reference DEMs obtained by traditional aerial surveys and by a LIDAR system.