Precise hexagonal pixel modeling and an easy-sharing storage scheme for remote sensing images based on discrete global grid system

Abstract

ABSTRACT Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGSs) are an emerging Earth reference model that support the integration and analysis of remote sensing (RS) data. Grid modeling, sampling, quantization, and storage are the key points and difficulties of DGGS. The Icosahedral Snyder Equal-area Aperture-4 Hexagonal DGGS was introduced as the basic framework to improve the geospace sampling efficiency. We presented an approach for precise hexagonal pixel modeling and an easy-sharing storage scheme compatible with open-standard formats for RS images based on the DGGS. Firstly, the proposed interpolation is computed by overlaps between quadrilateral and hexagonal pixels. The hexagonal grids were then mapped onto the icosahedral surface, and a strict correspondence between hexagonal and rectangular pixels is established. The open-standard formats were used to accurately store the hexagonal attribute values and metadata. Finally, a multiscale hexagonal aggregation algorithm based on the dataset was designed. Experiments showed that the proposed modeling methodology had a higher accuracy and smaller errors. The hexagonal data can be stored as regular rectangles with a fixed pattern in any standard format. This storage scheme was more conducive to data processing and sharing compared to SMOS, which was expected to promote hexagonal DGGS in RS data organization, processing and sharing.