Use of digital aerial photogrammetry sensors for land cover classification

The modern digital photogrammetric sensors are increasingly popular even in Remote Sensing (RS) field thanks to their ability to acquire in very high resolution and in Multi-Spectral (MS) mode: red, green, blue and in the Near Infrared (NIR) band. In addition, the trend, begun with large-format digital photogrammetric cameras, has also been applied to develop even medium and small format sensors in order to obtain a high geometric resolution of the images. Indeed, depending on the constructional features, these sensors can be mounted on airborne or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms. The aim of the paper is to investigate potentiality MS bands, generated by photogrammetric sensors, in order to build land cover maps. The presence of the NIR band is particularly useful for describing vegetation as through the indices it is possible to clearly distinguish vegetation from other elements present in the image. For the determination of land use classes, according to the "Corine Land Cover" (CLC) standard, an approach that combines remote sensing techniques with the classical ones of photo-interpretation has been experimented. In fact, not all objects of the territory can be recognized in an automatic way, but a reading key is necessary and only the knowledge of the territory can be established by the photo interpreter, such as for some artificial classes. In this paper, a case study on the use of MS image obtained airborne sensor is presented. In particular, using Z/I Imaging Digital Mapping Camera DMC® (manufactured by Intergraph), it has been possible to acquire in MS mode on a specific test area and subsequently, to realize using CLC of the IV level the land cover map with elevated detail.