FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES IN REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES
The digital terrain model and 0.3-m (1- ft) contours developed and evaluated in the NASA/MSCI
Raleigh project are excellent sources to evaluate the resolution and accuracy of spaceborne
remote sensing data. The spaceborne remote sensing data can be collected relatively cheap many
times in a year at reasonably high resolution, as shown in Table 1. This provides immense new
opportunities to assess regional and corridor-level temporal changes and condition assessment of
transportation infrastructure assets on routine long-term basis, and to assess damage caused by
natural disasters and acts of terrorism.
The airborne LIDAR and aerial orthorectified photo data are still far superior in resolution
and accuracy compared to the cheapest 15 m resolution data available from NASA’s latest
Landsat7 satellite. The Space Imaging’s commercial IKONOS satellite provides 1 m high
resolution data at relatively nominal costs, compared to airborne methods. This brief discussion
shows the future opportunities and promises of the latest airborne and spaceborne technologies.