Geometric Errors

• Internal and External Geometric Errors

• Need to recognize the sources of the internal and external error and
whether it id systematic (predictable) or nonsystematic (random).
• Systematic geometric errors are easier to identify and correct than
random geometric errors.
 Internal Geometric Errors
• Introduced by the remote sensing system itself or in combination with Earth
rotation or curvature characteristics.
• These distortions are often systematic (predictable) and may be identified and
then corrected using prelaunch of in-flight platform ephemeries (i.g. information
about the geometric characteristics of sensor system and the Earth at the time of
data acquisition)
• Corrected through analysis of sensor characteristics and ephemeris data include:
• skew caused by Earth rotation effects,
• Scanning system-induced variation in nominal ground resolution cell size,
• Scanning system one-dimentional relief displacement, and
• Scanning system tangential scale distortion.
Image Offset (Skew) caused by Earth rotation
effects,

• Deskewing is defined as the systematic displacement of pixels

westward in a frame of imagery to correct for the interaction of the
satellite sensing system’s angular velocity and the Earth’s surface
velocity.
External Geometric Errors
• Usually introduced by phenomena that vary in nature through space
and time. The most important extrenal variable is random movements
by the aircraft at the exact time of data collection, which usually
involves:
• Altitude Changes, and/or
• Attitude changes (roll, pitch , and yaw).
 Types of geometric Correction
The general rule of thumb is to rectify remotely sensed data to a
standard map projection whereby it may be used in conjuction with
other spatial information in a GIS to solve problems.
1. Image-to-Map Rectification
2. Image-to-Image Registration