Satellite derived digital elevation model and terrain parameters — generation, accuracy assessment and validation

Abstract

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and their derivatives are routinely exploited for a wide range of planning and engineering applications such as land reclamation, calculation of cut-and-fill requirements for earth works or to determine other relevant geomorphological landscape parameters. The advent of computer (digital) manipulation of elevation data has opened up great possibilities for studying the geometry of our land surface in relation to physical factors such as climate, vegetation, soils and geology. This paper is concerned with the generation, testing and validation of DEM and its derived terrain parameters viz., contours, drainage pattern etc. using IRS-1C stereo pair over a part of Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. In particular, it reports on the results achieved using indigenously developed stereo - processing software along with standard GIS and terrain analysis package to derive DEM and associated terrain parameters of the study area. The results are encouraging when compared with Survey of India topographical maps at 1:50,000 scale in terms of point to point accuracy of DEM, data quality evaluation of orthoimage and higher order drainage delineation.