i.
98
Restitution of LANDSAT - MSS Imagery
Using an Analytical Plotter of the
Federal University in Curitiba/Brazil
Sony Cortese Caneparo
Universidade Federal do Parand, Curitiba/Brazil
Hans - Peter Bahr
Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Bundesrepublik Deutschland (FRG)
Commission II
Background
Since more than 12 years, a Master Course in Geodesy and Photogramme-
try is offered at the Federal University in Curitiba (Paranä/Brazil).
This Course is the base for a project of technical collaboration,
established by the Federal Governments of Brazil and Germany, starting
in 1981. In order to allow high quality education and research,
beside other instruments,a ZEISS PLANICOMP C 100 Analytical Plotter
System was installed, including a HP 1000/45 processor and a DZ 7
plotting table.
Differing from Industrial Countries, Third World Countries have to
make in a different way use of high sophisticated technology. Conse-
quently, the Planicomp System in Curitiba is extensively used,
processing even geodetic data (Doppler) and data from electronical
tacheometers,apart from "classical" photogrammetric tasks like Bundle
Block Adjustment and photogrammetric mapping. Having no image pro-
cessing system available, remote sensing data too was processed at
the analytical plotter, though this instrument is not specificly
designed for that application. This, however leads to many interesting
and useful results, which are to be presented in this paper. :
Use of LANDSAT - MSS Data in Brazil
Brazil was the first nation outside the USA to build a LANDSAT recei-
ving station in the center of gravity of the South American continent.
Originally digital, LANDSAT MSS data pushed the development of digi-
tal image processing methods in the whole world. In Brazil a special
image processing laboratory was established at the INPE (Instituto
Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais) in Säo José dos Campos, 250 km south
of Rio. Being a central institution in a huge country, it can of
course not serve adequately all potential users of digital MSS pro-
cessing.
There are two ways out of that situation. First, any local institution
may use its own central computer for digital image processing (e.g.
BERUTTI 1984). Second, the user simply works with the photographic
MSS imagery offered by INPE. Up to now the latter option is dominating
and actually having enormous important applications in Brazil, even
if only applying visual interpretation methods.
Processing photographic MSS imagery using a photogrammetric stereo-
plotter has yet not be done frequently (one exception see CLERICI 1980)
though there obviously exist some advantages: The extraction of
semantic image information has to be done visually, however the result
fits geometrically to a map of arbitrary scale,and specific areas can
be simply measured. Because of a rigorous coordinate reference system,
temporal image series can be mapped without difficulty (see ROCHA 1983).