methodsandtechniquesforthecorrection.docVIP

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE CORRECTION OF NATURAL SHADES ON AERIAL-PHOTO OR SATELLITE MAPS Nikolaos Tzelepis and Byron Nakos Cartography Laboratory, Department of Rural and Surveying Engineering National Technical University of Athens 9, Heroon Polytechniou STR., Zographos, GR-157 80, Greece niktzel@survey.ntua.gr - bnakos@central.ntua.gr ABSTRACT This study examines possible ways first to restrain or even eliminate the “false” shades of the relief, created mainly by the direction of the natural sunlight presented on aerial-photo or satellite images, and then to replace them with the “correct” artificial hill-shading shades according to the cartographic principles of legibility and perceptibility, which allow the map user to easily and clearly interpret the relief’s shapes and formations. The natural shades are eliminated from the aerial-photo or satellite images by applying special radiometric and statistical processing in order to create images free of shades. An analytical description of the earth’s surface -stored as a digital elevation model- combined with computing tools of a variety of hill-shading methods are used to produce a cartographic “correct” image of shades of the study area. Finally, image-processing techniques are applied to create new images composed by the “correct shades and the shaded free aerial-photo or satellite images. The outcomes indicate the potential of the incorporated methods and applied techniques in order to construct aerial-photo or satellite maps clearly and legibly perceived. KEY-WORDS: Aerial-photo/satellite maps, relief visualization, hill-shading, illumination models, correction of topographic effect. Introduction The established map definitions are generally based on the graphical representation of the real world and the intrinsic phenomena or spatial relationships, where images and photographs are not conventionally parts of graphical symbolization. However, the various definitions introduced through the t