Automatic DEM Generation and 3D Change Detection from Satellite Imagery

Kurzfassung

In this paper we present a method for fully automatic generation of digital surface models (DSM) from very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and the consecutively automatic change detection from the derived 3D information. Common change detection methods are normally only based on spectral change detection. These methods will fail for e.g. comparing summer and winter scenes with the latter covered with snow. Introducing the digital elevation model into the change detection process will allow for a more detailled object modeling and also for the possibility to detect more sophisticated changes like volume estimation of mining activities. Here we present the involved methods for the generation of the high resolution surface models, the fusion and classification and finally the automatic 3D change detection. The methods are applied to some VHR stereo test data sets and the results are evaluated for quality and usefulness for automatic information derivation from large data sets.