New Era of Cartosat Satellites for Large Scale Mapping

Important considerations for large scale mapping from satellite images are information content and geometric fidelity. Cartosat series of satellites with stereo mapping capability have become the mainstay towards large scale mapping for urban and rural applications. Algorithms for processing of high-resolution Indian remote sensing satellite data has been developed at ADRIN and is used for operational generation of data products. Variations in the sensor model with respect to the viewing geometries of Cartosat-1 and Cartosat-2 are explained in the paper. Finally, an assessment of the mapping potential of the satellites is discussed. The geometric accuracy achieved from Cartosat-1 and Cartosat-2 images over the same checkpoints are compared. DEM, geometric accuracy, and capability for topographic feature capture are good enough for making 1:10 000 and 1:7 000 scale maps from Cartosat-1 and Cartosat-2, respectively. Based on the error estimation and analysis, it is concluded that if the strict photogrammetric processing model and ground control points are employed, high-resolution satellite imagery can be used for the generation and update of topographic maps of scale 1:10 000 and larger.