Home >> News: October 26th, 2016 >> Story
Satnews Daily
October 26th, 2016

A Resolution Of An Even Higher Order Is Verified For KOMPSAT-3A


A new technology that generates the world’s most accurate satellite surveying has been invented by PhotoSat, whereby engineering quality survey data has shortened timelines and surveying delays are eliminated in all phases of resource and engineering projects—more than 650 highly accurate satellite surveying projects worldwide have been delivered by the company.


KOMPSAT 3A satellite image of the Mir diamond mine in Eastern Siberia.

PhotoSat has just revealed that survey data processed from the new 40 centimeter resolution satellite, KOMPSAT-3A, has been verified as accurate to within 21 centimeters in elevation.  The stereo KOMPSAT-3A data was provide to PhotoSat by SI Imaging Services (SIIS).   SIIS is in charge of commercial marketing of KOMPSAT satellite series that Korean aerospace research institute (KARI) has developed and operates.

For the study, PhotoSat produced a 1meter grid of elevations using their proprietary geophysical processing technology with stereo satellite images taken by KOMPSAT-3A. The resulting elevations were then compared to a 1 meter LiDAR elevation grid in Southeast California, accurate to approximately 5 cm in elevation and available on the OpenTopography website. The size of the comparison area was 86 square kilometers. The resulting 21 cm RMSE elevation accuracy was measured at 6,294 survey check points. The full KOMPSAT-3A accuracy study is available on the PhotoSat website at www.photosat.ca.


KOMPSAT-3A 40 cm resolution orthophoto on the left. PhotoSat 1 meter elevation grid showing the histogram of the elevation differences to a highly accurate LiDAR survey on the right.

PhotoSat’s highly accurate satellite survey grids have been used for years by oil and gas and mining engineers as a cost-effective alternative to ground GPS and airborne LiDAR surveying. The stereo satellite photos from KOMPSAT-3A will enable PhotoSat to deliver engineering quality topographic survey data everywhere in the world.

Gerry Mitchell, the President of PhotoSat, related that in this test, an elevation grid extracted from stereo KOMPSAT-3A satellite photos matches a highly accurate LiDAR elevation grid to better than 21 cm in elevation. This result takes satellite elevation surveying into the engineering design and construction markets and directly competes with LiDAR and high resolution air photo surveying for applications such as mine tailings monitoring.

photosat.ca/