Accuracy evaluation of SRTM and ASTER DSMs

Over the last few years DSMs derived from satellite sensors, as SRTM (Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and ASTER (Advance Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) DSMs, have been issued and continuously updated. The SRTM DSM is delivered in three different versions (Finished, DTED, CGIAR), with different nominal accuracy covering a large part of the world at a resolution of 3’’ x 3’’. The goal of the work is to evaluate these products by a comparison carried out over Colli Albani area in Italy with two reference DSMs obtained by a LIDAR survey and by a CARTOSAT-1 stereopair, in order to assess both mean accuracy and its dependency on morphology and land cover types.