Researchers at NGS are evaluating several remote sensing technologies
for possible integration into the airport obstruction charting and
coastal mapping programs. Information on the specific experiments can
be found at the NGS Remote Sensing R&D website.
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At present, Airport Obstruction Charts are generated by a combination of field survey data and analytical photogrammetric data. However, new
technologies such as digital photogrammetry, LIDAR, SAR, and imaging
spectroscopy may be useful in determining obstructions - or in the
development of new products such as the classification of ground cover.
We have experiments underway at Harrisburg International Airport with
hyperspectral, LIDAR, and digital photogrammetric data. You can follow
the progress of these experiments at the Harrisburg International Airport website.
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Airport Obstruction Charts have typically been composed of discrete point obstruction data depicted on a vector background which delineates
the aircraft movement areas, the Part77 surfaces, and the buildings.
One promissing concept is to extract the necessary obstruction data from
digital surface models (DSM). This approach amounts to rasterizing the
earth's surface in the area of interest, and then computing obstructions
on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Because the imagery is often flown months
before the field survey, this approach offers the interesting
possibility of generating the DSM before the ground survey crew visits
the area. Recent experiments of this type are shown at the Asheville Regional Airport website.
This page updated on October 1, 1999