International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B7, 2012
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia
Figure 3. Histogram of the SRTM elevation for the Pittsburgh
International Airport. The elevation anomalies are
represented by lighter bars. A range of ‘correct’
elevations is represented by darker bars. There were
four data takes for this airport.
Map of the SRTM elevation anomalies for the Atlanta and
Pittsburgh airports are shown in Figures 4 and 5. These maps
uncover a very rough and rich ‘topography’ of the flat surfaces
of the airports. A detailed visual comparison of these maps with
the outline of the airport’s infrastructure has concluded that
some of the anomalies are due to the presence of elevated
objects such as terminal buildings or similar.
Difference (m)
-48.93 - -30
-30 - -25
-25 --20
-20--15
E
Figure 4. Atlanta International Airport: the map of the SRTM
elevation anomalies. The hollow areas represent
differences in elevation within a range of statistically
acceptable disparities.
Difference (m)
48.915001 - -45
45 - -40
--35
--30
md
i-T-208499
Figure 5. Pittsburgh International Airport: the map of the
SRTM elevation anomalies. The hollow areas
represent differences in elevation within a range of
statistically acceptable disparities.
Table 1 shows the percentage of outliers for the investigated
airports. In general, smaller airports are less biased by the
elevation anomalies. Visual inspection of satellite images of
airports with the lower percentage of anomalies confirms a
significantly lower number of concrete surfaces, buildings, or
metal objects.
City Airport code Outliers (96)
Pittsburgh KPIT 97.2
Milwaukee KMKE 96.0
Tucson KTUS 95.1
Las Vegas KLAS 95.1
32
St Louis KSTL 94.9
Memphis KMEM 91.9
Denver KDEN 91.1
Seattle KSEA 84.4
Pueblo KPUB 80.7
Washington KIAD 79.5
Nashville KBNA 78.3
Covington KCVG 70.8
Everett KPAE 70.5
El Paso KELP 67.0
Atlanta KATL 66.2
Christiansted TISX 64.6
Kansas City KMCI 64.0
Ontario KONT 64.0
Raleigh/Durham KRDU 63.8
San Antonio KSAT 63.1
Bangor KBGR 62.1
Charlotte KCLT 60.3
Palmdale KPMD 57.7
Phoenix KPHX 54.4
Spokane KGEG 51.3
Fort Lauderdale KFLL 51.0
Philadelphia KPHL 51.0
Miami KMIA 49.0
Chicago KORD 46.1
Minneapolis KMSP 45.0
San Jose KSJC 38.9
Dallas/Fort Worth KDFW 38.5
Indianapolis KIND 34.9
Tampa KTPA 32.3
Laredo KLRD 29.9
Pago Pago NSTU 29.1
Hilo PHTO 27.3
Baltimore KBWI 24.4
Newark KEWR 23.0
West Palm Beach KPBI 21.1
San Diego KSAN 18.8
Mayaguez TJMZ 18.8
Los Angeles KLAX 18.4
San Francisco KSFO 17.1
Orlando KMCO 16.7
Houston KIAH 16.5
Oakland KOAK 132
Detroit KDTW 12.6
Windsor Locks KBDL 125
Honolulu PHNL 12.0
New York KJFK 11.6
Salt Lake City KSLC 11.4
Syracuse KSYR 10.5
Columbus KCMH 9.3
Fort Myers KRSW 8.9
Fresno KFAT 8.5
Portland KPDX 7.2
San Juan TJSJ 6.4
Stockton KSCK 6.3
Reno KRNO 5.9
Wichita KICT 5.9
New Orleans KMSY 5.0
Boston KBOS 4.5
Niagara Falls KIAG 0.1
Table 1. Percentage of outliers in the SRTM data for the
investigated airports.
