Tomographic Urban Mapping and Object Reconstruction using TerraSAR-X Spotlight Data Stacks

Abstract

The advantage of very high resolution (VHR) TerraSAR-X imagery for cartographic applications is obvious. The real potential of this class of SAR data, however, lies in applications, where the coherent nature of SAR data is exploited, like interferometry or tomography. The 1m resolution is particularly helpful when it comes to 2D, 3D, or 4D imaging of buildings and urban structures. The inherent spatial scales of buildings are dominated by the typical height between floors of 3–3.5 m, i.e. in slant range (@ 30 deg) 2.6–3.0 m, and the distance of windows. Hence, for imaging of urban structures we can expect a tremendous improvement in information content when we go from high to very high resolution.