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GENERATION OF A TERRAIN DATA BASE OVER GREECE FOR TELECOMMUNICATION 
Dr. E. Vozikis, V. Printzios, V. Pagounis 
GEOMET Ltd 
Messogion Ave 330 
GR - 15341 Athens, Greece 
ISPRS. 
Commission IV, Working Group 4 
KEY WORDS: Remote Sensing, GIS, Correlation, Processing, Classification, DEM/DTM Extraction, Orthoimages 
Production ‘ 
ABSTRACT: 
This article presents the technical specifications for the generation of a Terrain Database over Greece for 
Telecommunication. It also presents the various types of products and specifies some elements of the production 
process such as the co-ordinate system the data used etc. In the following are described the products as well as, their 
technical characteristics, the methods, the absolute accuracy of the results and the quality control of the final products. 
Finally the article presents the maintenance of this database and the management - organisation of the whole 
procedure. 
1. INTRODUCTION 2. CLUTTER DATABASE 
The field of mobile communications is continuing to 3. VECTOR DATABASE 
experience rapid expansion as more organisations 
recognise the advantages of communication with people 
on the move, especially in cases such as accidents, 2. DEFINITION OF THE PRODUCTS 
natural disasters, crimes, medical incidents, military 
actions, business, traffic jams etc. This fact forced the 2.1 Coverage 
telecommunication industry to expand both in terms of 
area extent and the quality of service provision. In order to manipulate the height and clutter coverage's 
ju i data the whole area of Greece were devided in three (3) 
This article will outline how Digital Terrain Data, Clutter lots corresponding to the following zones: 
Data and Vector Data have been generated for the whole 
area of Greece for mobile communications and will show 1. Lot 1 - HEIGHT DATA, CLUTTER DATA and 
how recent technological advances offer a fast reliable VECTOR DATA for the North and Northwest area. 
and economical solution through the use of Digital 
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 2. Lot 2 - HEIGHT DATA, CLUTTER DATA and 
LOE VECTOR DATA for the Central, Central-South 
The Greek private telecommunication company area and the Ionian Islands. 
PANAFON SA, in order to plan national and regional 
network, as well as for the ratio analysis of existing 3. Lot 3 - HEIGHT DATA, CLUTTER DATA and 
facilities and radio-wave propagation studies required VECTOR DATA for Crete and Aegean Islands. 
incorporating Digital Terrain Model (DTM), Clutter Data 
(land use classification) and Vector Data (road network, 
coastline etc.); the aid was to model the signal loss 
produced by topographic variation and clutter such as 
buildings and vegetation in order to calculate radio 
coverage maps. Then empirical corrections were 
allocated to each cover type which then will be used to 
improve the overall accuracy of the model. 
All the data tiled in 100 x 100 Km zones covering whole 
Greece as described below (Figure 1). 
2.2 Co-ordinate System 
The co-ordinate system used for the products was the 
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) as well as ellipsoid 
WGS '84 and zone 34 of the UTM for the whole area of 
Greece. Then the Transverse Mercator projection was 
applied to the zone of interest. 
The French company ISTAR and the Greek company 
GEOMET Ltd, within the terms of a co-operation, were 
contracted by PANAFON SA, to carry out the generation 
of a Digital Terrain Database including the following 
items: 
1. HEIGHT DATABASE 
1 
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International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B4. Vienna 1996