Fly Once, Use Many: Creating Multipurpose Imagery

Leanne Mills
Senior Spatial Technician
Imagery Applications
Land and Property Management Authority
346 Panorama Avenue, Bathurst NSW 2795
Ph: +61 2 6332 8147
Leanne.Mills@lpma.nsw.gov.au

Abstract
Public awareness of aerial imagery has dramatically increased over the past 10
years. Applications of imagery is stepping out of traditional uses such as
topographic mapping and moving towards other realms; specifically emergency
services, environmental applications, agricultural monitoring and law
enforcement. The need to produce a quality high resolution product that can be
used for many applications is now in high demand.
The Land and Property Management Authority (formerly New South Wales
Department of Lands) has been capturing aerial imagery of New South Wales
since 1947. In 2007, LPMA replaced the film-based system with an ADS40
SH52 sensor from Leica Geosystems. The ADS40 is a pushbroom style sensor
with the ability to simultaneously capture twelve bands of data in three different
look angles. The sensor can produce a number of products from the one
capture. These products include standard colour, false colour, 8bit, 16bit and
multiband imagery. Since the acquisition of the sensor, both the Aircraft
Operations and Imagery Application teams within LPMA have been identifying
ways to streamline the orthophoto production process in a way that doesn’t
compromise image accuracy or quality. The workflow process has been refined
to nine main steps starting with flight planning through to metadata creation. A
key component of the workflow is saving auxiliary files so they can be used for
the generation of other products as well as the re-processing of areas that have
been flown again.
This paper will be of interest to organisations that use or are thinking about
using imagery for a project. It will describe how LPMA creates orthorectified
imagery from the ADS40 sensor and the different products that can be created
from one imagery project.

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Introduction
In 2007, the Land and Property Management Authority decided to replace the
film based RC30 camera in order to better meet client needs and to become an
authority in orthophoto image production. Leica Geosystems was awarded the
tender and in May 2007, LPMA purchased the ADS40 SH52 sensor, associated
software and hardware. The Digital Image Acquisition System (DIAS) program
began in June 2007.
Changing sensors and moving from film to digital based photography required a
complete workflow redesign and training of staff in both the Aircraft Operations
and Imagery Applications teams. Due to the unfamiliar nature of the new
technology, LPMA had to educate clients and stakeholders in the capabilities,
terminology and products available from the sensor. Initially the products were
based on those created using the film based imagery. It soon became apparent
that this product list did not reflect the capabilities of the new sensor or the new
requirements of the clients. After much client consultation the standard product
list was changed to reflect new market needs.

ADS40 SH52 Sensor

The ADS40 SH52 is an Airborne Digital Sensor which is designed and supplied
by Leica Geosystems. It captures data in the red, blue, green, near infrared and
panchromatic bands. The camera is a pushbroom style sensor that records
data in three different look angles. The backward (16o) and nadir (0o) look
angles each capture the red, green, blue and panchromatic bands whilst the
forward (27o) look angle captures one panchromatic band.

Figure 1: Data capture in the ADS40 (Leica Geosystems, 2007)

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LPMA operates the sensor in a Cessna 421c aircraft. The main physical
components of the system consist of: the pilot display, operator interface,
sensor head, PAV unit (gyro-stabilised sensor mount), control unit and mass
memory.

Figure 2: Data capture in the ADS40 (Leica Geosystems, 2007)

Figure 3: The ADS40 configuration inside the aircraft.

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Orthophoto Workflow
An imagery project is first initiated by the Manager of Imagery and Elevation
Programs or either of the Imagery or Aircraft Team Supervisors. The Aircraft
Operations Team is notified of the project request and begins flight planning to
produce a planned flight date. The Survey Branch is notified of the planned
flight date so control points can be collected before the job is flown. Control
points can be either targets or permanent features on the landscape. The
project is then flown, downloaded and given to the Imagery Applications Team
to process.

Figure 4: LPMA job initiation

The orthophoto production process is divided into twelve main steps. The first
three steps, flight planning to imagery download, are performed by the Aircraft
Operations Team. The remaining nine steps, imagery processing to product
creation, are performed by the Imagery Applications Team (refer to Figure 5).
Using this workflow, LPMA is able to produce a range of products from one
project to suit a variety of client needs.

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 Figure 5: LPMA orthophoto production workflow.

Products
A state-wide standard capture program has been created by the LPMA in
conjunction with stakeholder and client input. All standard projects have a
ground sample distance (GSD) of either 50cm or 10cm. A GSD of 50cm is used
for capturing 1:100,000 map blocks which are based on the NSW Topographic
Map Series. These map blocks are approximately 2500km2 in size. Towns with
a population of 400 people or more are captured at 10cm GSD. LPMA has
developed a set of standard products which are produced each time a project is
processed. The standard products created are dependent upon the ground
sample distance of the project.
As the ADS40 is a pushbroom style sensor, the imagery is captured in strips
not frames. Each strip is processed to two different levels:
1. L1 strips: rectified imagery (triangulated); the backward and nadir look
angles are used to create stereo pairs for a strip
2. L2 strips: orthorectified imagery (triangulated and terrain displacements
removed); used for creating mosaics
For all standard jobs L2 image strips, orthorectified tiles and mosaics are
produced in true colour (RGB – red, green, blue bands) and colour infrared
(CIR – near infrared, red, green bands). All L1 image strips are produced in true
colour. A product that has been recently developed by the imagery team is the
multiband tile and it is available for 50cm GSD imagery. At this point in time,

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there is no demand for multiband tiles from 10cm imagery so they are not
produced unless requested.
Table 1: List of standard LPMA imagery products.

50cm GSD 10cm GSD

Products (all 8bit)
CIR RGB RGB

L1 stereo pair strips   

L2 image strips   

Orthorectified tiles   

Orthorectified multiband tiles   

Mosaic   

True Colour and Colour Infrared Products

The ADS40 sensor captures data in different bands similar to a satellite. This
facility enables the combination of different bands to produce different types of
imagery.

Panchromatic band:
(465 - 680nm)
Blue band:
(428 - 492nm)
Green band:
(533 - 587nm)
Red band:
(608 - 662nm)
Near Infrared band:
(833 - 887nm)

Figure 6: Wavelengths of the ADS40 spectral bands (Leica Geosystems, 2008 and
Wagner R, 2008).
As part of the standard mapping program, LPMA produce true colour and
colour infrared imagery. A true colour image consists of the red, green and blue
bands. A colour infrared image consists of near infrared, red and green bands.
The imagery processing workflow was initially designed to make RGB imagery

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and was then adapted to include CIR imagery. As all the bands are captured
simultaneously, the same triangulation results, digital elevation model and
seamlines are able to be used to create both CIR and RGB tiles and mosaics.
The underlying software used to process the ADS40 strips is called GPro,
which is designed by Leica Geosystems. GPro is used to download the imagery
from the mass memory, run automatic point matching between the image
strips, produce the L1/L2 strips and perform preliminary colour adjustments. In
order to produce a clear consistent image, the strips undergo colour
adjustments twice in the workflow. Initially, separate histogram break point files
(.bpf) are generated for both the RGB and CIR imagery. The .bpf’s are created
using an application in GPro called the Tonal Transfer Curve Editor. They are
created from 16bit L1 RGB and CIR imagery for a representative strip in the
project. The values for the red and green bands in the RGB .bpf file are applied
to the CIR .bpf, leaving the near infrared band to be adjusted to produce a clear
image, refer to Figure 7. Keeping the red and green band values the same for
both the RGB and CIR strips enables the creation of a multiband tile.

Figure 7: Break Point Files created for the RGB and CIR imagery.

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The .bpf file adjusts the image strip so the colour is as close as possible to the
actual on-ground colour, however, it does not fix colour differences between
adjacent strips. Colour differences between strips can be due to different flying
dates or flying conditions between flight runs. Once the L2 image strips have
been made they undergo further colour adjustments using the colour balancing
program OrthoVista. All the strips for a project are loaded into the program and
are colour matched between strips. This is done separately for the RGB and
CIR image strips.
The final colour balanced L2 strips are mosaiced using a program called
MosaicPro which is part of the ERDAS Imagine 2010 suite. All projects are
flown with a sidelap of at least 30%, providing the space to create seamlines.
The seamlines are manually edited because the automatically generated
seams do not adequately hide the differences between adjacent strips.
Differences between strips can be due to temporal changes, lateral
displacement and shadow. All seamlines are feathered by ten pixels to further
hide the differences.
a) Generated nadir seamlines b) Seamlines after manual editing

Figure 8: Seamline creation (Dubbo Mapsheet 50cm GSD).

Imagery projects are available as geotiff tiles for ease of use and file size
manageability. For a 50cm GSD project, the tile size is 5km x 5km with a file
size of 300MB and for a 10cm GSD project the tile size is 1km x 1km with a file
size of 500MB. The tiles are joined together to produce a final mosaic in
compressed ECW format. A final mosaic for a 50cm GSD project is up to
3.7GB in file size.

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Multiband Tiles
The multiband tiles consist of four bands: red, green, blue and near infrared.
The bands are created to be the same configuration as a satellite image where
Blue = Band_1, Green = Band_2, Red = Band_3 and NIR = Band_4. To view
the tile as a true colour image the bands are assigned red = 3, green = 2, blue
= 1. To view the tile as a false colour image the bands are assigned as red = 4,
green = 3, blue = 2.

a) True Colour

b) False Colour

Figure 9: Viewing a multiband tile as either true or false colour.

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The multiband tiles are created using the Layer Selection and Stacking tool in
ERDAS Imagine. The red, green and blue bands from the RGB tile are stacked
with the near infrared band from the CIR tile. Due to the number of tiles in a
standard job (around 140), the imagery team developed a batch script for this
tool to automate the creation of these modules.

Figure 10: Layer Selection and Stacking tool in ERDAS Imagine 2010.
As these tiles are created from the RGB and CIR tiles, they have undergone
colour adjustments and are in 8bit format. Traditionally, data used for
classification purposes has been in 16bit format with only limited radiometric
corrections applied. Initial investigations by the imagery team into the use of
these multiband tiles for low level classification purposes has proven to be
positive, however, users need to be aware that such adjustments can influence
classification results.

Specialised Products
The ADS40 is capable of producing other products outside the LPMA standard
product range. These include: multiband L2 strips, pan sharpened imagery and
16bit imagery.
The L2 multiband strips are similar to the standard multiband tiles and can be
created in both 8bit and 16bit format. Some software packages are unable to
read the ADS40 strip files as they are in SOCET SET support file format (.sup),
whereas the multiband tiles are a convenient file format and area size.

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Pan sharpened imagery is only created for special cases. Internal research has
shown that it is far better to fly the project at the desired ground sampling
distance as artefacts can appear in pan sharpened imagery, refer to Figure 11.

Figure 11: Artefacts that can occur in pan sharpened imagery.

GPro has the ability to create 16bit L1 image strips, L2 multiband, CIR and
RGB image strips. An 8 bit image has 16.8 million possible colour
combinations. Whereas a 16 bit image has 281 trillion colour combinations,
resulting in an image that is very rich in information. 16bit imagery is
traditionally used for high level classification. There are no colour adjustments
applied to 16bit imagery as it changes the value of the pixel and can vary
analysis results. Clients have found the 8 bit products are suitable for their
image needs including classification.
The file size of 16bit imagery is double that of 8bit imagery causing storage
issues for most organisations. For a standard 50cm GSD job one 8bit 4 band
(RGBN) strip is 6GB whereas a 16bit 4 band (RGBN) strip is 12GB. Analysing
16bit imagery requires specialised software and high power computers which
can also be an issue for some organisations.

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Digital Elevation Models
A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is created for each project and is used in the
orthorectification process. ADS40 DEMs are a by-product of the standard
production workflow and are not a deliverable product at this point in time. The
DEM for a project is created using enhanced Automatic Terrain Extraction
(eATE) software in the Leica Photogrammetry Suite (LPS) created by ERDAS.
This software automatically extracts the height of matching points between
stereo strips. It can take up to four days of computer processing to produce an
8m DEM for a 50cm project. These surfaces do not represent the bare earth
and contain features such as vegetation and structures. The DEM is refined to
a stage where it is suitable for creating orthorectified imagery by manual 3D
editing on Planar screens. The final DEM is stored and can be used again for
future projects for the same area.

Figure 12: Hillshade of a DEM created using ADS40 stereo pairs (Dorrigo 50cm
Project).

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Imagery Geodatabases
The imagery team has a number of spatial geodatabases where datasets that
are collected or created during the workflow process are stored. The datasets
that are kept are:
1. Flight lines: contains information about each flight line such as time, date,
bands, storage, project type and project name.
2. Control points: contains information about the control point such as
location, source and description.
3. Seamlines: contains information about the seamline such as project name
and image strip it relates too.
4. Tile boundaries: contains information about the tile such as name and
area.
5. Mosaic footprints: contains information about the final mosaic such as
project number, datum, capture date, GSD, accuracy, bands and sensor
information (basic metadata about the project).

Figure 13: LPMA imagery databases.

The advantage of keeping data such as seamlines, control points and flight
lines is that if the area is flown again this data can be re-used and does not
need to be recreated. In the case of seamlines, this dramatically reduces the
time it takes to process the imagery.

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Quality Assurance
To ensure that the products produced for each project are consistent, the
imagery team has developed rigorous quality assurance methods. These
include:
1. Standardised naming procedures for all products and intermediate
imagery.
2. Standardised folder directory setup to be used for all imagery projects.
3. Colour adjustments are completed on one computer with a calibrated high
end EIZO monitor to maintain colour consistency.
4. The horizontal accuracy of the project is checked at the end of the
triangulation and again after the end of L2 image strip creation.
5. Each L2 image strip is checked for image anomalies before mosaic
creation.
To ensure that all operators perform each step the same way a digital manual
(DIAS Reference Manual) was created detailing each step of the workflow. As
well as containing the workflow steps, the manual has a knowledge library
section detailing any documents or troubleshooting ideas relating to the
workflow. As the imagery team are constantly refining and improving workflow
steps, the manual is regularly updated to reflect any changes so that it always
remains current. The manual is also useful for training new staff that join the
imagery team (refer to Figure 14).

Figure 14: DIAS Reference Manual.

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The DIAS Job Tracking System was developed in conjunction with the DIAS
Reference Manual. Each workflow step documented in the reference manual is
included in the job tracking system and has to be marked off when completed.
The job tracking database is useful for ensuring that each step in the workflow
is carried out, monitoring the status of each job and is used by other sections of
the LPMA to check when a project is completed (refer to Figure 15).

Figure 15: DIAS Job Tracking Database.

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Future Directions
In order to remain an authority in the production of orthorectified imagery, the
Imagery Applications team are constantly finding ways to improve the
production workflow whilst keeping in mind the changing needs of clients. The
ultimate aim is being able to produce spatially accurate orthorectified imagery in
the shortest timeframe possible without compromising image quality. As part of
that process, the imagery team is currently evaluating:
1. Upgrading the Leica Geosystems ADS40 sensor to the Leica Geosystems
ADS80 sensor.
2. The latest version of the following software:
- Updated Leica GPro software called XPro, for improved orthorectified
image production.
- ERDAS Imagine 2010, for improved orthorectified image and DEM
production.
- Leica IPAS Freebird, for improved GNSS-IMU processing.

Conclusion
Since upgrading to the ADS40 digital sensor, the LPMA Imagery Applications
Team has been working hard to develop a set of products that not only promote
the capabilities of the sensor but also meet client needs. When the sensor was
first purchased in 2006 very little was known about it or the imagery in Australia.
Through client workshops, onsite tours and consultations, LPMA have been
helping to educate clients on ADS40 imagery and how the products are made.
A huge amount of research has been undertaken by the imagery team with
support from companies such as Leica Geosystems, ERDAS, government
departments and universities to develop the current product range.
The LPMA standard product range reflects a change in the applications of
airborne imagery. With the introduction of multispectral airborne sensors, users
are no longer restricted to satellite imagery for analysis purposes. Users are
now more imagery aware and expect current, high quality, high resolution and
high accuracy imagery. LPMA recognises this requirement and has developed
the online NSW Spatial Information Exchange (www.six.lands.nsw.gov.au)
which provides access to LPMA imagery and topographic datasets to everyone.

References
Leica Geosystems, 2008, Leica ADS80 Airborne Digital Sensor, Digital
Airborne Imaging Solution. (Heerbrugg: Leica Geosystems AG).
Leica Geosystems, 2007, ADS40 Documentation, Volume 2, Technical
Reference Manual. Version 2.12-86, (Heerbrugg: Leica Geosystems AG).
Wagner, R., 2008, Leica ADS80 – Digital Airborne Imaging Solution.
Presentation at a conference, Leica Geosystems Airborne Sensor Workshop,
27 October 2008, San Ramon, CA.

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