Improvement of Digital Terrain Model Interpolation Using SFS Techniques with Single Satellite Imagery

Abstract

The technique of stereo measurements is mainly applied to extract Digital Terrain Model (DTM) height data from stereo images in photogrammetry and remote sensing. Tremendous amounts of local and global DTM data with different specifications are now available. However, there are numerous geoscience and engineering applications which need denser DTM grid data than available. Advanced space technology has provided much single (if not stereo) high-resolution satellite imageries almost worldwide. In cases where only monocular images are available, reconstruction of the object surfaces becomes more difficult. Shape from Shading (SFS) is one of the methods to derive the geometric information about the objects from the analysis of the monocular images. This paper discusses the use of SFS methods with single high resolution satellite imagery to densify regular grids of heights. Three different methodologies are explained and implemented with both simulated and real data. Very encouraging results are obtained and briefly discussed.