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Title
Fusion of sensor data, knowledge sources and algorithms for extraction and classification of topographic objects
Author
Baltsavias, Emmanuel P.

International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vol. 32, Part 7-4-3 W6, Valladolid, Spain, 3-4 June, 1999
corrections, etc., if necessary. The alignment problem calls
upon physics, and is certainly the problem in data fusion which
is the most relevant to the concerns of the remote sensing
community.
5. CONCLUSIONS
A new definition of the data fusion has been proposed which
better fits the remote sensing domain. Data fusion should be
seen as a framework, not merely as a collection of tools and
means. This definition emphasizes the concepts and the
fundamentals in remote sensing. Several other terms are also
proposed most of which are already widely used in the
scientific community, especially that dealing with information.
The establishment of a lexicon or terms of reference allows the
scientific community to express the same ideas using the same
words, and also to disseminate their knowledge towards the
industry and ’customers’ communities. Moreover it is a sine qua
non condition to set up clearly the concept of data fusion and
the associated formal framework. Such a framework is
mandatory for a better understanding of data fusion
fundamentals and its properties. It allows a better description,
using similar terms clearly understood by everybody, of the
potentials of synergy between remote sensing data, and
accordingly their better exploitation.
The problem of alignment of the information to be fused is very
difficult to tackle. It is a pre-requisite to any fusion process and
should be considered with great care. The remote sensing
community may play a role in that domain, since it has a great
experience in both the physics involved, including sensors, and
the mathematical operations of sampling.
Finally, the introduction of the concept of data fusion into the
remote sensing domain should raise the awareness of our
colleagues on the whole chain ranging from the sensor to the
decision, including the management, assessment and control of
the quality of the information.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been made thanks to many fruitful discussions
with several researchers and the many participants to the
EARSeL - SEE working group "data fusion". I also thank Luce
Castagnas, Isabelle Couloigner, Louis-François Pau, and Stelios
Thomopoulos for their comments and assistance.
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