Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Aerial Photographs
Aerial photographs are a very reasonable data source as they contain a different
type of information then old maps. In old aerial photographs there are recognizable
different types of land-use, abandoned buildings and other interesting details. The
methods of aerial imagery processing are very capable of producing a Digital
Surface Model (DSM) based on the input images. Thanks to the location of our
area of interest along the border with Germany and thanks to its industrial impor-
tance this region has been fully covered by an aerial imagery survey in the year
1938.
5
Different timelines of aerial imagery were tested for the purposes of this
project (1938, 1946, 1953, 1987, 1995 and 2008). Finally only three time-lines will
be processed for the whole area of interest:
1938—the first aerial imagery taken in the whole Czechoslovakia, representing
the landscape almost untouched by open-cast mining.
1953—precise aerial imagery taken shortly after the Second World War show-
ing the landscape partly affected by heavy industry and open-pit mining activity.
This imagery is very well usable for the detection of abandoned houses and
villages after the transfer of German citizens from the Czech borderland.
2008—imagery showing the up-to-date situation in the region. High quality
imagery used mainly for the georelief reconstruction.
Aerial images are processed by the standard ways of photogrammetry using the
Leica Photogrammetry Suite environment. The issues of handling old aerial imag-
ery is introduced for example in Collier et al. (
2001
) and Weiss (
2011
).
Digital Terrain Modelling
Reconstruction of the original shape of the landscape is a very important part of this
project. During the years of intensive open-pit mining the georelief has been
transformed in a very dramatic way, which has affected not only the landscape
structure but as well the hydrology network and surface water run-off (Bonta
et al.
1997
; Musilov
´
2011
).
The georelief can be reconstructed from types of elevation data—in this project
three data types were used—contour lines, aerial imagery and LIDAR.
The oldest map with georelief represented by contour lines originates from 1938
(the 3rd Military Survey) when the landscape is almost untouched by mining
activity. The consequent
time lines (1953, 1972 and 1981) represent
the
5
The first test with aerial photogrammetry were within the Czechoslovakia performed (according
to
Pokusn´ mˇˇen´ metodou leteck´ stereofotogrammetrie v
ˇ
sl. republice
) in 1932. The first
photogrammetrical campaign covering a continuous area was performed in 1938.
