Automatic orthorectification service for very high-resolution optical satellite data

The purpose of the project is to specify and develop a service for automatic orthorectification of optical high-resolution (HR) and very high-resolution (VHR) satellite images that will meet the demands of the remote sensing community and other public or private sector users interested in reliable, high accuracy and fast orthorectification of data for various applications. The prototype service will be able to process large quantity of data from different sensors in a short time. Most of the ancillary data required for the processing will be acquired from specific web databases. The service will be prepared to operate in a cloud-based environment.

The envisaged service will be based on the already existing geometric correction module that is implemented in the STORM processing chain and currently supports several HR (e.g. RapidEye, THEOS, SPOT-6/7) and VHR (e.g. Pléiades, WorldView-2/3/4) sensors. In the proposed project the geometric correction module will run the rational function geometric model (RFM) that will be upgraded to satisfy the recent advances in sensor resolution and satellite acquisition capacities. To obtain such capabilities the functionality of the chain will incorporate new algorithms and methods to accommodate various types of data from different sources.

The ultimate goal is to obtain a cloud-ready prototype service with a user interface and database. The service will be easy-to-use, thus appropriate also for the users with only basic knowledge of remote sensing. The user interface will be simple and will require only few inputs from the user before the execution with a single click. For professional users also advanced processing options will be available. Besides the simple usage the service will bear three other important qualities: it will be fast, it will be able to process multiple images in a block, and it will be available globally.