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ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF IMAGE QUALITY ON DIGITAL MAP GENERATION 
FROM SATELLITE IMAGES 
Hycon Kim*, Dongwook Kim®, Seungyong Kim®, Taejung Kim ** 
“ Dept. of Geoinformatic Eng, Inha University, Korea - hyeycon1 1 @inha.edu, tezid@inha.ac.kr 
® Geospatial Information Technology Team, Hanjin Information Systems & Telecommunication Co., Ltd -dwkim09@hist.co kr, 
sykim00@hist.co.kr 
Commission IV, Working Group IV/3 
KEY WORDS : Image quality, GRD, NIIRS, Accuracy of digital map, High resolution satellite images 
ABSTRACT: 
High resolution satellite images are widely used to produce and update a digital map since they became widely available. It is well 
known that the accuracy of digital map produced from satellite images is decided largely by the accuracy of geometric modelling. 
However digital maps are made by a series of photogrammetric workflow. Therefore the accuracy of digital maps are also affected by 
the quality of satellite images, such as image interpretability. For satellite images, parameters such as Modulation Transfer 
Function(M TF), Signal to Noise Ratio(SNR) and Ground Sampling Distance(GSD) are used to present images quality. Our previous 
research stressed that such quality parameters may not represent the quality of image products such as digital maps and that 
parameters for image interpretability such as Ground Resolved Distance(GRD) and National Imagery Interpretability Rating 
Scale(NIIRS) need to be considered. In this study, we analyzed the effects of the image quality on accuracy of digital maps produced 
by satellite images. QuickBird, IKONOS and KOM PSAT-2 imagery were used to analyze as they have similar GSDs. We measured 
various image quality parameters mentioned above from these images. Then we produced digital maps from the images using a digital 
photogrammetric workstation. We analyzed the accuracy of the digital maps in terms of their location accuracy and their level of 
details. Then we compared the correlation between various image quality parameters and the accuracy of digital maps. The results of 
this study showed that GRD and NIIRS were more critical for map production then GSD, MTF or SNR. 
1. INTRODUCTION and NIIRS(National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale). In 
several researches, the accuracy of digital map according to GSD 
Digital map has to be periodically updated since the geographic 
information is changing rapidly and it constitutes national 
geographic information system. To generate and update of 
digital map, generally, aerial photographs are used. However 
they have several restrictions for images acquisition and they 
cannot be acquired over inaccessible areas. For that reason, 
of satellite image was discussed. Some researches generated 
digital map using SPOT-5 identified the number of plotted 
features(Priebbenow and Clerici, 1998) or compared with 
respect to features shape and size(Amitabh et al., 2008). 
GSD, which used for spatial resolution of satellite images, 
generation and revision of digital map using satellite images is an 
: indicates topographic distance per each pixel but it is not 
issue. 
sufficiently to describe image interpretability. On the other 
hands, GRD and NIIRS are representative parameters for image 
interpretability. GRD means the smallest size of the object that 
should be able to discern within images and NIIRS is defined the 
type of object that should be able to identify. Therefore, in this 
study, we will consider these parameters for analysis of the 
Previous researches investigated that high resolution satellite 
images can be substituted aerial photograph in cartographic 
purpose(Konecny and Schiewe, 1996; Fraser, 2002; Kay et al., 
2003). They considered the geometric accuracy of satellite image 
as a key factor to draw such a conclusion. However digital maps 
are made by a series of photogrammetric workflow. Therefore 
the accuracy of digital maps are also affected by the quality of 
satellite images, such as image interpretability. The In this paper, QuickBird, IKONOS and KOMPSAT-2, which 
interpretability of satellite images are expressed by many 
parameters such as GSD(Ground Sampling Distance), 
SNR(Signal to Noise Ratio), GRD(Ground Resolving Distance) 
effects of image quality on digital map generation from satellite 
images. 
have similar spatial resolution are used for generation of 1:5000 
digital maps. First we estimate quality of each images and 
generate digital map using digital photogrammetric workstations 
  
* Corresponding author: Tacjung Kim (tezid@inha.ac.kr) 
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