The Effect of Image Resolution on the Geometric Correction of Remote Sensing Satellite Images

Mohamed Tawfik, Hassan Elhifnawy, Ayman Ragab, Essam Hamza

Geometric distortion due to sensor and/or environmental error sources represent a big problem in the final reported accuracy of captured satellite images. Image to image registration is one of commonly used processes of geometric correction of captured images for updating digital maps and GIS databases. This research tested the effect of different raw image resolutions with respect to reference image resolution on accuracy of image registration process. The research algorithm is implemented using different resolution satellite images from two different sensors, IKONOS and LANDSAT8. The reference data is an image of 1.0meter resolution from IKONOS-2 satellite images. Spatial interpolation process is applied using first order polynomial technique with four ground control points from reference image, which are sharp defined and well distributed. Nearest neighbour technique is used for investigating intensity pixel values of resultant new corrected images. Geometric correction gave accurate results when using raw images with resolution same or higher than the reference image. The resolution of raw available images may be selected based on the required applications. Images with resolution lower than reference image can be used with applications that do not need high accuracy.