VI.

Image Registration (Georeferencing)

A. Learning Outcome
1. To georeference a scanned administrative boundary map using a
topographic map as a reference.

B. Resources Needed
1. PC with QGIS software
2. Image files:
a. topomap_Luzon-1911.tif
b. admin_bnd.tif

C. Exercise
1. Initial Steps
a. Launch the QGIS Dekstop software. From the Menu Bar, go to Layer →
Add Layer → Add Raster Layer…
b. Add the raster layers with the filename topomap_Luzon-1911.tif and
admin_bnd.tif. Then, close the Data Source Manager.

Figure VI-1. Raster layers needed for the activity.

c. Open the Layer Properties window of the admin_bnd layer and go to the
Source tab. Notice that the Assigned CRS of the layer is displayed as
“invalid projection”. This means that we need to georeference the
scanned administrative boundary map as well.

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 Figure VI-2. Checking the Coordinate Reference System, (CRS) of the
topographic map.

d. Open the Georeferencer window from the Raster menu. In the said
window, go to File → Open Raster…. and add the raster image
admin_bnd.jpg located at your file directory.

Figure VI-3. Loaded admin_bnd in the Georeferencer

window.

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e. Examine the reference map (georeferenced topographic map) and the
target map (administrative boundary map) carefully. Select a minimum
of four (4) control points that can be identified on both maps (See Figure
VI-4).

Figure VI-4. GCPs to be selected in the reference map (top) and target map
(bottom).

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 Note: Zoom in closely on both maps to check the similar features
which we will use as GCPs. In selecting control points, choose ground
features that can be easily identified in both maps such as road or
river intersections, mouth of a river, street corners, and
sharp/pointed edges/corners of topographic features.

2. Capturing Control Points or Tick Marks

Figure VI-5. Location of the Four (4) GCPs to be used in georeferencing the
target map.

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a. In the Georeferencer window, click the Add Point button in the
toolbar, then zoom-in and position your cursor on the location of the first
GCP in the target map (see Figure VI-4 and Figure VI-5). Left-click once
on the said point to open the Enter Map Coordinates dialog box.

Figure VI-6. Identifying the first GCP in the target map.

b. In the Map Coordinates dialog box, click the [From Map Canvas] to switch
back to the Map View.

Figure VI-7. Enter Map Coordinates dialog box.

c. In the Map View, zoom-in and place the cursor on the first GCP in the
georeferenced topographic map, then left-click on the point once to
register the first GCP.

Figure VI-8. Identifying the first GCP in the

reference map.

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d. You will observe that the coordinates are automatically registered in the
Enter Map Coordinates window.

Figure VI-9. Values automatically generated upon the capture of the first GCP.

e. Click [OK] to accept changes then click the Zoom to Layer icon to view
the first point being registered.
f. Add the remaining GCPs (see Figure VI-4 and Figure VI-5) by repeating
steps a-e. When you are done, the Georeferencer window should look like
Figure VI-10.

Figure VI-10. Georeferencer window after adding the four GCPs.

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 Tips: The following tips may help you in georeferencing your target
map:
▪ The best practice is to select a control point near each of the
four corners of the map. You may add more points within the
map but make sure that they are evenly distributed.
▪ Monitor the residual error of the GCPs in the GCP table after
selecting at least 4 control points. If a GCP has an unusually
high error, delete the GCP using the Delete Point button on
the Georeferencer window and capture the point again.

g. In the Menu Bar, go to Settings → Transformation Settings… to open the

Transformation Settings dialog box. Follow the steps below:
i. In the Transformation Type, select Polynomial 1.
ii. In the Resampling Method, select Nearest Neighbor.

iii. In the Target CRS, click on the Select CRS button to open the
Coordinate Reference System Selector window. Go to Geographic
Coordinates System and select Luzon 1911 from the list.
Alternatively, you may enter “Luzon 1911” or “4253” on the Filter
search box. Click [OK].

Figure VI-11. Choosing Luzon 1911 from the list of Coordinate Reference
Systems.

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 iv. In the Output Raster, click on the Browse button to open the
Destination Raster window. Make sure that you are in the data
folder.
v. In the Destination Raster window, input “admin_bnd_Luzon-1911”
as the filename of the output raster. Select TIF files in the Save as
type dropdown options. Click [Save].
vi. Going back to the Transformation Settings window, tick the box
provided for in the Load in QGIS when done option.
vii. Click [OK].

Figure VI-12. Input in the Transformation Settings.

viii. Check the Polynomial Mean Error located at the lower right corner
of the Georeferencer window to verify the accuracy of your GCPs.
Generally, the lower its value, the better the accuracy. For the
purpose of this exercise, aim to achieve a mean error of 20 or less
before proceeding with the next step.
ix. When done, just press the Start Georeferencing button to create
a new georeferenced raster file.
x. Close the Georeferencer window when done. Click [Discard] on the
Save GCPs dialog box that will pop out. The georeferenced raster

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image will automatically be added to the Map View. Make sure that
the admin_bnd_Luzon-1911 layer is above the topomap_Luzon-
1911 layer in the Layers panel.

Figure VI-13. Overlaid georeferenced map.

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