J Indian Soc Remote Sens (March 2013) 41(1):113 DOI 10.

1007/s12524-012-0212-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Validation of Indian National DEM from Cartosat-1 Data

S. Muralikrishnan & Abhijit Pillai & B. Narender & Shashivardhan Reddy & V. Raghu Venkataraman & V. K. Dadhwal

Received: 29 November 2011 / Accepted: 8 March 2012 / Published online: 29 March 2012 # Indian Society of Remote Sensing 2012

Abstract CartoDEM is an Indian National DEM generated from Cartosat-1 stereo data. Cartosat-1, launched in May, 2005, is an along track (aft 5, Fore +26) stereo with 2.5 m GSD, give base-height ratio of 0.63 with 27 km swath. The operational procedure of DEM generation comprises stereo strip triangulation of 500 27 km segment with 10 m posting along with 2.5 m resolution ortho image and freeaccess posting of 30 m has been made available (bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in). A multi approach evaluation of CartoDEM comprising (a)
S. Muralikrishnan : A. Pillai : B. Narender : S. Reddy : V. R. Venkataraman : V. K. Dadhwal National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Hyderabad, India A. Pillai e-mail: abhijitmadhusudan_p@nrsc.gov.in B. Narender e-mail: naren_br@nrsc.gov.in R. Venkataraman e-mail: raghu_vv@nrsc.gov.in V. K. Dadhwal e-mail: dadhwalvk@hotmail.com S. Muralikrishnan (*) Head Digital Photogrammetry & Value Added Services Division, AS & DM,NRSC, Hyderabad 500037, India e-mail: muralikrishnan_s@nrsc.gov.in

absolute accuracy with respect to ground control points for two sites namely Jagatsinghpur -flat and Dharamshala- hilly; second site i.e. Alwar-plain and hilly with high resolution aerial DEM, (b) relative difference between SRTM and ASTERDEM (c) absolute accuracy with ICESat GLAS for two sites namely Jagatsinghpur-plain and Netravathi river, Western Ghats-hilly (d) relative comparison of drainage delineation with respect to ASTERDEM is reported here. The absolute height accuracy in flat terrain was 4.7 m with horizontal accuracy of 7.3 m, while in hilly terrain it was 7 m height with a horizontal accuracy of 14 m. While comparison with ICESat GLAS data absolute height difference of plain and hilly was 5.2 m and 7.9 m respectively. When compared to SRTM over Indian landmass, 90 % of pixels reported were within 8 m difference. The drainage delineation shows better accuracy and clear demarcation of catchment ridgeline and more reliable flow-path prediction in comparison with ASTER. The results qualify Indian DEM for using it operationally which is equivalent and better than the other publicly available DEMs like SRTM and ASTERDEM. Keywords Indian DEM . CartoDEM . Cartosat-1 . Drainage delineation and SST

Introduction Satellite generated terrain at close spacing is an important application of space-borne sensors. Towards

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this many countries have successfully launched satellites with a facility for across track stereo like SPOT and IRS 1 C/1D in mid nineties. However due to practical limitations of these stereo while processing the data made them to launch satellites with the along track stereo sensors namely ASTER, Cartosat-1 and ALOS. Along the track stereo-data acquisition is found to be better as it reduces the day/time difference between the pairs thereby reducing radiometric difference as well as atmospheric effects and thus increases the correlation success rate in any image matching (Nikolakopoulos and Lathourakis 2005). The other techniques by which DEM can be generated are SAR interferrometry which was used in SRTM (Farr and Kobrick 2000). To systematically acquire the land surface in 3D, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched Cartosat-1 into orbit on May 05, 2005, from its launch facility in Shriharikota, India. This satellite, the eleventh in ISROs Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) series, is meant for stereo imaging for cartographic applications while offering improved spatial and radiometric resolution over its predecessors as well as global stereo satellites. The Cartosat-1 payload includes two imaging sensors: fore and aft, with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 2.5 m (Table 1);Both Fore and Aft sensors are push broom sensors tilted in along track direction by +26 and -5 so that each scene from the two cameras forms a stereo pair (Muralikrishnan et al. 2006). Generation of geocoded and orthorectified raster images, a necessity for incorporating image data in a GIS database, requires DEM data (Hohle 1996). For many of the geometric, radiometric and atmospheric corrections of satellite data from optical and microwave instruments, topographic information is required. For example, correction of data

Table 1 Cartosat-1 camera specifications Parameter name GSD (m) Spectral sensitivity Quantization Swath width Num of detectors Detector size Focal length Field of view Integration time 0.366 ms Fore (+26) 2.5 500850 nm 10 bits 29.42 km 12000 77 m 1945 mm Aft (5) 2.5 500850 nm 10 bits 26.24 12000 77 m 1945 mm 1.08 deg. 0.366 ms

from AWiFS, LISS-3 as well as Cartosat-1 itself requires use of DEM data that Cartosat-1 stereo data can provide. The Cartosat-1 stereo capability is based on principles of photogrammetry that have been well understood and used routinely with stereo aerial photographs for nearly 80 years. Generation of DEM is a very important issue for many applications such as map generation, 3D GIS, environmental monitoring, geo-spatial analysis etc. (Kim and Kang 2001; Vadon 2003). In the past, generation of a DEM from aerial images has received a lot of attention among the photogrammetrists. Keeping in view of the importance of digital elevation model for various applications, Space Application Centre and National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO undertook the project CartoDEM (CartoDEM 2008). The main objective of this programme was to generate seamless DEM from Cartosat-1 stereo data for Indian land mass. The stereo data from Cartosat-1 satellite has been extensively investigated for its stereo applications and accuracy. One such exercise is ISPRS-ISRO Cartosat-1 Scientific Assessment Programme (C-SAP) wherein investigators around the world have been given data of their choice and evaluated the performance and accuracy of the DEM and ortho data (Nandakumar et al. 2008 and Table 2). However, most of the investigators have processed with photogrammetric COTS packages with sufficient ground control points in a controlled manner with good amount of manual editing of DEMs. But for large scale generation of DEMs for operational use, this method of generation was not possible. Hence to overcome this problem and generate DEMs for Indian land mass quickly a new methodology was adopted with fewer ground control points. The methodology adopted to produce CartoDEM is developed by ISRO using Augmented Stereo Strip Triangulation method(ASST) (Gupta et al. 2008) involving stereo-strip triangulation of 50027 km strip stereo pairs using high precise ground control points, interactive cloud-masking, automatic dense conjugate pair generation using matching approach (Radhika et al. 2007). The processing was carried out with 4,000 GCPs with an accuracy better than 30 cm collected from all over India by establishing Ground Control Point Library (GCPL) network of 26 zero order station (5 cm accuracy) and 300 first order station (10 cm accuracy) as base stations using dual frequency geodetic receivers (Fig. 1). Seamless homogeneous DEM is produced by TIN modeling of irregular

J Indian Soc Remote Sens (March 2013) 41(1):113 Table 2 Investigation carried out using Cartosat-1 stereo data- Sample studies Sl.No. 1 Area & approach Fourteen independent global investigatorss -under ISPRS-ISRO Cartosat-1 Scientific Assessment Programme. Photogrammetric processing, Technical reportTest Area Mausanne, Warsaw Photogrammetric Processing of Cartosat-1 stereo imagery Orthorectification and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Generation Using Cartosat-1 Satellite Stereo Pair in Himalayan Terrain Landslide Volumetric Analysis Using Cartosat-1-Derived DEMs Effect of sun elevation angle on DSMs derived from Cartosat-1 data Results of the investigation DSM can be generated with an accuracy of 0.5 pixel in planimetry and 12 pixels (1) in height; Sub-pixel accuracy of the height values as x-parallax. Radiometry is good, with fewer GCPs, 24 m CE90 horizontal and 510 m LE90 vertical can be achieved. Generation of three dimensional mountainous regions more accurately. References

Nandakumar et al. (2008)

2 3

Jacobsen (2006) Lutes (2006)

Singh et al. (2010)

5 6

Showed a good match with the volumes calculated using DEMs. The results indicate that the sun elevation angle and valley orientation affect the spatial accuracy of the DSM,

Martha et al. (2010a) Martha et al. (2010b)

DEM, interpolation for regular DEM generation and automatic strip to strip mosaicing. These automatically generated DEM tiles are further evaluated for quality and tile editing to remove anomalies. The primary output unit is a tile of 7.5 7.5 extents with DEM
Fig. 1 Ground Control Point Library network (Adopted from GCPL Phase-II Closeout Document, NRSC-AS&DMADP&VASD-JAN12-TR370)

spacing of 1/3 arc-sec, and co-registered ortho-image of resolution 1/12 arc-sec. The CartoDEM is a surface model of elevation and covers Indian landmass. India is covered with 19,575 tiles. Due to perennial cloud cover in some

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parts of India, however DEM is available for 90 % of Indian land mass (Fig. 2).The specification of CartoDEM is given in Table 3.The demand for a product such as DEM is enormous, it is imperative to examine carefully the quality of the dataset, comparing it with the best alternative sources of DEM data. In this study, we examine the quality of CartoDEM data through direct comparison with precise ground control points collected from dualfrequency geodetic receivers, previously available digital elevation model generated from airborne camera and ICESat (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) GLAS data. Also in relative comparison with other globally available DEMs like SRTM (Jarvis, et al. 2004) and ASTERDEM (Lang and Welch 1999).These comparisons are made on height differences, as well as drainage delineation.

Study Area and Data Sources Study Area To study the absolute height accuracy of DEMs, four test areas were chosen in such way that it comprises topography of flat (coast)-Jagatsinghpur, hilly-Simla, western ghats-Netravathi river and mixed- Alwar (both hill and plain terrain). Jagatsinghpur,Orissa: is located in the East Coast of Orissa, surrounded by Kendrapara District in NorthEast, Puri District and Bay of Bengal in south, Cuttack District in West and Bay of Bengal in East. This
Fig. 2 CartoDEM coverage over India

district is situated between latitudes of 20 and 21 North and longitudes of 84 and 87 3 East. This district is also surrounded by river system the Mahanadi and Paika in the North and Devi in the SouthEast. The terrain is mostly flat, with the elevation ranges from 63 to 38 m with reference to WGS-84 ellipsoid. Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh: is a city in the upper reaches of the Kangra Valley and is surrounded by dense coniferous forest consisting mainly of stately Deodars. The suburbs of the town includesMcLeod Ganj, Bhagsu Nath, Forsyth Ganj, Naddi, Kotwali Bazaar (the main market of the town), Kaccheri, Dari, Ramnagar, Sidhpur and Sidhbari.The study area is situated between latitudes of 32 7 and 32 13North and longitudes of 76 15 and 76 27 East. The elevation in the study area varies from 600 to 2,030 m with reference to WGS-84 ellipsoid. Alwar, Rajastan: The district is situated in the northeast of Rajasthan between latitudes of 274 and 284 North and longitudes of 76 7 and 77 13 East. Its greatest length from south to north is about 137 km. and greatest breadth from east to west about 110 km. The study area includes part of Alwar district, Rajasthan. It comprises both plain and hilly terrain. The elevation range in the study area varies from 150 to 650 m with reference to WGS-84 ellipsoid. Netravathi River, Western Ghats: This area is part of Western Ghats between latitudes of 12 and 14 North latitudes and longitudes of 74 and 76 East. Western Ghats are continuous range of mountains, rising from the Indias Malabar Coast. The average elevation is

J Indian Soc Remote Sens (March 2013) 41(1):113 Table 3 CartoDEM specifications Element Tiles Datum &Projection DEM cell size Orthoimage resolution Elevation accuracy Planimetric accuracy Elevation unit Description Tiles of 7.5 7.5 for DEM and corresponding ortho image WGS84 & Geographic (lat. & long.) 1/3 arc-sec(~10 m at equator) 1/12 arc-sec.(~2.5 m at equator) 8 m (LE90) 15 cm(CE90) Meter

Methodology In practice, it is rarely the case that two full and equivalent models of elevation data are available for comparison. For such cases two possible alternatives may be used each of which provides an estimate of the likely accuracy. If spot heights are available in addition to a DEM, the difference in elevation values may be found at spot height locations. There are two major problems with this method, namely the representative selection of spot height locations and the arbitrary method of spatial interpolation. A simple geometry-based photogrammetric rule that is applicable to assessment of DEM accuracy is: h H p=B (Welch 1989) Where H/B is the inverse of the B/H ratio (in the case of Cartosat-1 1.0/0.63 or 1.59), and p is the difference in parallax (xy displacement) of a point in the two images forming the stereo pair. Assuming p correlation errors in the range of 0.5 to 1.0 pixels (1.252.5 m), h errors (RMSEz) would be in the 2 m to 4 m range. However this estimate is true for bundle block adjusted with more number of GCPs typically 4 GCPs/scene of size 2727 km and manual editing of DEM. Whereas the CartoDEM is generated with automatic mode without manual editing of DEMs and 10 GCPs for 50027 km strip segment. Hence there may be dilution of accuracy. As pointed out by Nalini et al. (2008), Bolstad and Stowe (1994), and Ackermann (1994) RMSExyz alone is an insufficient measure of DEM data quality for those who use the DEM data for scientific applications. Other parameters include: the spacing of the DEM, the characteristic of terrain surface and the modeling approaches. Hence, the DEM was validated with three approaches viz. absolute, relative height accuracy and terrain surface in terms of drainage delineation in comparison with ASTERDEM (Kb 2002). Absolute Accuracy For any cartographic products, horizontal and height error standards have existed for over half a century. With the advent of digital mapping and cartographic data, these standards are based on map measurements and hence map-scale dependent, have been refined to

approximately 1,200 m.The elevation in the study area varies from 89 to 1,436 m with reference to WGS-84 ellipsoid. Data Sources To validate whole India DEM data, sufficient number of ground data i.e. better than CartoDEM accuracy is not readily available. Hence various available data have been used to validate the absolute accuracy of the DEM viz. 1. precise ground control points acquired from dual frequency geodetic survey grade GPS receivers in relative positioning mode with height accuracy better than 30 cm, 2. DEM generated from National Remote Sensing Centre airborne platform i.e. with RMK TOP15/23, flying height 12,500 ft above mean ground level with 25 cm spatial resolution and height accuracy of 50 cm and 3. ICESat Geoscience Altimeter system (GLAS) data set (Zwally, et al. 2003) acquired from January, 2003 to 1 January 2010, GLA14 global land surface altimeter data, release 31, was downloaded from the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) site for the study area whose height accuracy is decimeter in case of flat terrain and around a meter for 20 slope (Arefi and Reinartz 2011). The necessary transformation is carried out from TOPEX/Poseidon to WGS84 Ellipsoid/Datum to have uniformity with CartoDEM data. However to get overall accuracy of CartoDEM data for whole India, relative accuracy was attempted with other global DEMs like SRTM DEM and ASTERDEM. The SRTM Version 4 data was downloaded from CGIAR-CSI SRTM (Jarvis et al. 2008) and ASTER GDEM V2 from http://www.gdem.aster.ersdac. or.jp accessed on November 7, 2011.

6 Fig. 3 Flow chart of evaluation procedure

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incorporate statistically based measurements of accuracy. Commonly used statistical measures of map accuracy are the Root Mean Square Error (Wood and Fisher 1993), Circular Error (CE) which is two dimensional used for horizontal accuracy and Linear Error which is one dimensional used for height accuracy. Generally RMS is at 1 whereas CE and LE is estimated with 90 % confidence level. This means that locations of objects are represented on the image within the stated accuracy 90 % of the time. Here we have used CE (90) in XY (horizontal) and Z(height) in LE (90). The flow chart of absolute accuracy validation is given in Fig. 3. Relative Accuracy For whole of India, comparative study of CartoDEM with other global DEMs like SRTM and ASTERDEM data has been carried out in terms of height accuracy. For comparison, the original CartoDEM with spacing
Fig. 4 Distribution of Check points and shaded relief of CartoDEMTest site: Jagatsinghpur

of 10 m is subsample to 30 m and 90 m with respect to ASTERDEM and SRTM respectively. The CartoDEM height datum WGS84 was converted into geoid using EGM 96 for whole India so that all the three DEMs are in same reference datum. Terrain Surface - Drainage Delineation Drainage delineation analysis is an important application of DEM to demarcate the drainage basin. A drainage basin is the topographic region from which a stream receives runoff, through flow, and groundwater flow. A number of factors like topography, soil type, bedrock nature, attitude and type, climate, vegetation cover, fracture pattern, etc. influence input, output, and transport of sediment and water in a drainage basin. These factors also influence the nature of the pattern of stream channels. Drainage is studied according to its pattern type and its texture (or density of dissection).

J Indian Soc Remote Sens (March 2013) 41(1):113 Table 4 DEM vertical and planimetric error Parameter/Sites Jagatsinghpur Dharamshala Alwar Netravathi River, Western Ghats Hilly

Terrain type Input Error range -Height(m) LE90 (m) Error range -Horizontal(m) CE90 (m)

Plain 15 GCPs and 282 GLAS points 5 to 1 4.7 1 to 11 7.3

Hilly 8 GCPs 11 to +9 7.0 2 to 10 6.7

Hilly and Plain 59 ICPs from aerial DEM 6 to +9 7.3 1 to 16 14

6086 GLAS points 6 to +14 7.9

This analysis has been carried out in comparison with ASTERDEM for hilly data since hilly terrain allows easy understanding of flow direction. Primary objective of this study is to show the demarcation capability of CartoDEM. ArcHydro tool is used to demarcate watershed (both varying catchment and river flow) from the digital elevation data. By stream definition factor, it is possible to reduce or increase the density of the streams. By this factor, streams have been classified as primary (minimum) flow, secondary (medium) flow and tertiary (maximum) flow.

(LE90) and horizontal accuracy of DEM is 7.3 m with 90 % confidence level (CE90) (Table 4). The same data was evaluated with GLAS data comprising 282 points and the height accuracy was found to be 5.2 m at LE90. The ICESat GLAS data ground tracks are shown in Fig. 5a and difference histogram is shown in Fig. 5b. Test Area: Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh The DEM is validated by comparing with elevations of ground control points. A total of 8 points were used in the present study (Fig. 6). Absolute height accuracy is 7 m with 90 % confidence level (LE90) and horizontal accuracy of DEM is 6.7 m with 90 % confidence level (CE90) (Table 4). Test Area: Alwar, Rajastan For comparison purpose, the aerial DEM was generated at 30 m postings. The DEMs were validated by

Results Test Area: Jagatsinghpur, Orissa The DEM is validated by comparing it with the elevations of ground control points. A total of 15 points were used for the present study (Fig. 4). Absolute height accuracy is 4.7 m with 90 % confidence level

Fig. 5 a. ICESat ground tracks displayed b. Difference histogram between CartoDEM and GLAS in the study areaJagatsinghpur

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Fig. 6 Distribution of Check points and shaded relief of CartoDEMTest site: Dharamshala

taking independent checkpoints (ICP) on reference and CartoDEM (Fig. 7). A total of 59 ICPs were used for validation. Absolute height accuracy is 7.3 m with 90 % confidence level (LE90) and horizontal accuracy of DEM is 14 m with 90 % confidence level (CE90) (Fig. 8). Test Area: Netravathi River, Western Ghats The data is validated with GLAS data comprising 6,086 points and the height accuracy was found to be 7.9 m at LE90. The ICESat GLAS data ground tracks are shown in Fig. 9a and difference histogram is shown in Fig. 9b. Relative Comparison of CartoDEM and SRTM Relative comparison of CartoDEM90 and SRTM 90 m was carried out for whole of India and difference in elevation was generated. Overall 400 million points

were compared and represented as bins of difference in height between the DEMs. It can be observed from the Fig. 10, that 90 % of data sets were within the stated accuracy of 8 m. DEM difference in spatial form for whole India is shown in Fig. 11. Relative Comparison of CartoDEM and ASTERDEM While comparing with ASTERDEM, since the data volume for whole India is large, we have taken into account only samples comprising 150 million points and, difference in elevation was generated and represented as bins of difference in height between the DEMs. ASTER B/H ratio is 0.6 and assuming correlation errors in the range of 0.5 to 1.0 pixels (7 15 m), errors (RMSEz) would be in the 12 m to 26 m range (Lang and Welch 1999). Since the height accuracy of CartoDEM is better than ASTER, the difference bins are showing large variation (Fig. 12).

Fig. 7 Distribution of Check points and shaded relief of CartoDEMTest site: Alwar

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25 20 15

10

Error in meters

5 0 -5 -10

Hilly terrain Flat terrain

smaller catchments obtained from CartoDEM are better demarcated and the tertiary flow shows a natural pattern whereas straightening of flow is observed in case of ASTERDEM data with flow densely packed together that did not represent a natural flow.

-15
-20 -25 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34

Discussions
37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 Number of ICP's

Fig. 8 Elevation error with respect to Aerial DEM Test Area: Alwar

Terrain Surface - Drainage Delineation From the Fig. 13, it is observed that CartoDEM shows a clear demarcation of the catchment ridgeline. CartoDEM further shows a good demarcation of secondary flows while ASTERDEM fails to demarcate the secondary flow direction. The

The elevation accuracies of CartoDEM were first validated against field global position system (GPS) survey points and better resolution DEM generated from Airborne camera and ICEsat GLAS data, The absolute accuracy evaluation result shows in flat, hilly and mixed areas (flat and hilly), if the region of interest is on the flat region, the height accuracy is better than 4 m whereas in hilly areas the error is around 8 m. It is true for all the three sites. Hence it is inferred from the results that the elevations are found to be influenced by the ruggedness of the terrain. In relative comparison with other global DEMs, the overview of result shows that there is a very close agreement between the

Fig. 9 a.ICESat ground tracks b. Difference histogram between CartoDEM and GLAS displayed in the study area- Netravati River, Western Ghats

10

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45 40 35

Frequency (%)

30
25 20 15

10
5 0
-100 -90 - -80 - -70 - -60 - -50 - -40 - -30 - -20 - -16 - -8 - - -4 - 0 0 - 4 4 - 8 8 - 16 - 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 - -90 -80 -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -16 -8 4 16 20 - 30 - 40 - 50 - 60 - 70 - 80 - 90 - 100

Fig. 10 Histogram difference in elevation between CartoDEM and SRTM for Whole of India

datasets, once again the distribution of differences showed spatial cohesion. From the comparisons performed between the SRTM heights and those derived from the CartoDEM, it is evident that the major area of disagreement between the datasets lay over the

hilltops, where matching algorithm could not get exact conjugate point. The CartoDEM was generated with fully automatic s/w along a strip of 50027 km length using stereo strip triangulation, bias corrected, radiometrically

Fig. 11 Difference in elevation between CartoDEM and SRTM

J Indian Soc Remote Sens (March 2013) 41(1):113 Fig. 12 Difference in elevation between CartoDEM and ASTER for a test site of size 33
Frequency(%) 50.00 45.00 40.00 35.00 30.00

11

25.00
20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00

-90 - -80

-40 - -30

-80 - -70

-30 - -20

-20 - -16

-70 - -60

-60 - -50

-50 - -40

-100 - -90

-16 - -8

-8 - -4

-4 - 0

8-16

4-8

matched and mosaiced with adjacent strip. Since DEM generation was not photogrammetrically block adjusted across different strips like traditional methods with manual editing, the typical DEM errors that occur in automatic algorithm like match point failure in hill top and large triangles formation in plain areas were present. Apart from this, mosaic
Fig. 13 Drainage delineation of ASTER (Top) and CartoDEM(Below)

errors across tiles due to local height variation error were also observed. The statistical representation of drainage flow is given in Fig. 13. It is observed that the delineation of drainage length is more in CartoDEM compared to ASTER where shortening of drainage is present. The similar pattern is observed in primary and secondary

90 - 100

20 - 30

70 - 80

16 - 20

60 - 70

80 - 90

50 - 60

30 - 40

40 - 50

0-4

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flow also. Flow-path prediction is found to be more reliable with CartoDEM data. Imaging geometry and terrain slope play a key role in estimating the elevation of a point. Generally it is observed that DEM produced from highly mountainous regions like Himalayas, North Eastern region and Western Ghats with high slopes in opposite direction of the viewing direction includes sizeable amount of occlusions and shadow where DEM quality is not good. To circumvent the problem in high mountainous areas, the Cartosat-1 stereo payload was reversed in along direction by 21 to bring fore camera closer to nadir and aft camera away from nadir. In future, by combining the stereo scenes of normal and reverse mode of operation, one may get a good DEM free from occlusion problems from highly undulated terrain like Jammu and Kashmir and North East regions of India.

References
Ackermann, F. (1994). Digital elevation models techniques and application, quality standards, development. International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 30(4), 421432. Arefi, H., & Reinartz, P. (2011). Accuracy enhancement of ASTER global digital elevation models using ICESat data. Remote Sensing, 3(7), 13231343. Available at: http:// www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/7/1323/ and accessed on January 10, 2012. Bolstad, P. V., & Stowe, T. (1994). An evaluation of DEM accuracy: Elevation, slope and aspect. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 60(1), 13271332. CartoDEM Project. (2008). Augmented Stereo Strip Triangulation (ASST) software analysis & architecture document SAC/RESIPA/SIPG/CARTODEM/TN-01/February, Space Application Centre(ISRO), Ahmedabad, India. Farr, T. G., & Kobrick, M. (2000). Shuttle radar topography mission produces a wealth of data. American Geophysical Union EOS, 81, 583585. GCPL Phase-II Closeout Document, NRSC-AS&DMADP&VASD-JAN12-TR370, National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Hyderabad, India. Gupta, A., Nain, J. S., Singh, S. K., Srinivasan, T. P., Krishna, B. G., & Srivastava, P. K. (2008). Long strip modelling for cartosat-1 with minimum control, The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B1. Beijing 2008, Commission I, WG I/5 pp.717722. Hohle, J. (1996). Experience with the production of digital orthophotos. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 62(10), 11891194. Jacobsen, K. (2006). ISPRS-ISRO Cartosat-1 Scientific Assessment Programme (C-SAP) technical reportTest areamausanne and warsaw, ISPRS Commission IV,Goa, India. Available at http://www.globalinsights.com/4.%20% 20KJ_Cartosat.pdf and accessed on November 10, 2011. Jarvis, A., Rubiano, J., Nelson, A., Farrow, A., Mulligan, M. (2004) Practical use of SRTM data in the tropicsComparisons with digital elevation models generated from cartographic data. Tropical agriculture, volume: 198. Citeseer, p 32. Available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu. Jarvis, A., Reuter, H. I., Nelson, A., Guevara, E. (2008). Holefilled SRTM for the globe Version 4, available from the CGIAR-CSI SRTM 90m Database (http://srtm.csi. cgiar.org). Kb, A. (2002). Monitoring high-mountain terrain deformation from air and spaceborne optical data: Examples using digital aerial imagery and ASTER data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 57(12), 3952. Kim, S., & Kang, S. (2001). Automatic generation of a SPOT DEM: Towards coastal disaster monitoring. Korean Journal of Remote Sensing, 17(2), 121129. Lang, H. R., & Welch, R. (1999). ATBD-AST-08, algorithm theoretical basis document for ASTER digital elevation models (STANDARD PRODUCT AST14) Version 3.0 Revised 5 February. Accessed on October 27, 2011, http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/for_scientists/ atbd/docs/ASTER/atbd-ast-14.pdf.

Conclusions Results presented here demonstrate that the CartoDEM meets stated specifications of height and horizontal accuracy i.e. 8 m and 15 m at 90 % confidence respectively. Inter comparison with ASTERDEM and SRTM shows robustness of CartoDEM since most of the data have substantially better than 5 m accuracy at 1 (67 %). In terms of application potential, it shows very good drainage demarcation capability. A few anomalies and artifacts were observed that could reduce its usability for certain applications, because they can introduce large elevation errors on local scales. However, for the generation of drainage pattern, 3-D perspective views, viewshed analysis and height control points for further processing of various satellite data as well as reference for evaluation of coarser DEMs, this data would be useful. The DEM is accompanied with corresponding ortho data and users will have opportunity to use this unique data set.

Acknowledgments The authors thank Mr.A.S.Manjunath, Project Director and Dr.B.Karthikeyan, Associate Project Director, CartoDEM project for their support during the work. We thank the NASA team responsible for generating global ASTER GDEM, ICESat GLAS data and, NASA/DLR team for SRTM data and hosting at the website.

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