Quality analysis comparison of 3D products from satellites and aerial images : MICMAC Application in Hilly Zones ( Liège)

Abstract

3D models are extracted from at least 2 stereo views of area of interest and they constitute an indispensable data in many surveying tasks and applications. Since the beginning of photogrammetry, aerial imagery was mostly used in precise topographic mapping applications mainly due to its (very-)high ground resolution. With the affordable (very-)high resolution and stereoscopic satellite imagery that provides larger spatial coverage, it is also possible to collect very large-scale 3D data from satellite products. This research aimed to assess geometric quality of DSMs and orthomosaïc products from high spatial resolution aerial and Pleaides satellite stereo-photogrammetry. We aim to demonstrate that, using MICMAC software, photogrammetric products from aerial images taken by UltraCam Falcon camera of Vexcel Imaging and Pleiades images are equivalent in both geometric and radiometric quality and that their structural realism and consistency in urban and hilly areas is similar. The selected study area is thus the urban and peri-urban Western zone of Liège. Verification of this hypothesis is based on photogrammetric products from 48 aerial images acquired in a period from 12th to 15th April 2015 and one stereo-pair of Pleiades images taken on 13th March 2015. Using GCPs surveyed in the study area, geometric quality of Vexcel DSM and orthoimages were found more accurate than Pleiades products.