Multi-point matching along vertical lines in SPOT images

Abstract Digital elevation models(DEMs) are measured in SPOT images with a digital matching technique. A multi-point matching method developed by the author in earlier work is reformulated from epipolar geometry with the stereoparallaxes in one of the images used as unknowns, to SPOT geometry with the elevations as unknowns. Constraints minimizingthe curvature and the slope of the Computed DEM are investigated, as well as the use of data snooping, low-pass filtering and an alternative logarithmic grey level function. The investigatedimage pair was a stereo SPOT pair from Stockholm, with a rather poor base-to-height ratio of 0·29. All 2073 investigated points were compared with heights obtained from the official Swedish maps, scale 1:10000, with a 5 m contour interval. The results point towards a r.m.s. matching accuracy around 0·15-0·20 pixels in this image material.