Land Management Data Research Articles

The necessity of exterior orientation parameters for the rigorous geometric correction of MEIS‐II airborne digital images

Remote sensing is an essential element of the Canada Land Use Monitoring Program. The program sought the replacement, before 1991, of classical aerial photographs by remote sensing imagery (satellite or airborne) as the main source of data for land management (Wilson, 1986). In this sense, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) has been involved over the last few years in a project for implementing an airborne multi‐detector electro‐optical imaging system (MEIS‐II). The acceptance of airborne scanners has been slow over the years principally because of poor spatial resolution and distortions induced by aircraft motion. For addressing this geometric problem, CCRS has developed a rigorous correction method based on a fundamental photogrammetric principle (colinearity condition) and auxiliary navigation data (attitude, altitude and aircraft speed) measured in relation to time by an inertial navigation system (INS). The method can process images in monoscopy or stereoscopy (two flight lines or more, in w...