Generation of digital surface models in urban areas using triple-stereo imagery . GI_Forum|GI_Forum 2016, Volume 1 – open:spatial:interfaces|

Stereo or even triple-stereo satellite imagery of very high spatial resolution is a versatile source for many applications and analyses. The aim of this short paper is to demonstrate the level of accuracy that can be calculated for digital surface models using triple-stereo data in urban areas. Urban planners benefit from such results thanks to the fast processing time and low cost in comparison to other data, such as LiDAR data. In addition, the data obtained using stereo or triple-stereo technology simultaneously acquire the requisite spectral information. This study used semi-global matching (SGM), which runs a pixel-wise matching of two image pairs. SGM outputs a point cloud for each pair, which is used for the generation of digital surface models (DSMs). The result of the study is a DSM which can be used in urban areas for the estimation of urban volumes such as the vegetation volume or building cubature. Results are evaluated with respect to the overall accuracy, the number of errors, and missing values due to shadows or dark homogeneous areas