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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2009

Stereo Vision Based Terrain Mapping for Off-Road Autonomous Navigation

Successful off-road autonomous navigation by an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) requires reliable perception and representation of natural terrain. While perception algorithms are used to detect driving hazards, terrain mapping algorithms are used to represent the detected hazards in a world model a UGV can use to plan safe paths. There are two primary ways to detect driving hazards with perception sensors mounted to a UGV: binary obstacle detection and traversability cost analysis. Binary obstacle detectors label terrain as either traversable or non-traversable, whereas, traversability cost analysis assigns a cost to driving over a discrete patch of terrain. In uncluttered environments where the non-obstacle terrain is equally traversable, binary obstacle detection is sufficient. However, in cluttered environments, some form of traversability cost analysis is necessary. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has explored both approaches using stereo vision systems. A set of binary detectors has been implemented that detect positive obstacles, negative obstacles, tree trunks, tree lines, excessive slope, low overhangs, and water bodies. A compact terrain map is built from each frame of stereo images. The mapping algorithm labels cells that contain obstacles as no-go regions, and encodes terrain elevation, terrain classification, terrain roughness, traversability cost, and a confidence value. The single frame maps are merged into a world map where temporal filtering is applied. In previous papers, we have described our perception algorithms that perform binary obstacle detection. In this paper, we summarize the terrain mapping capabilities that JPL has implemented during several UGV programs over the last decade and discuss some challenges to building terrain maps with stereo range data.

passive perception↗
NASA NTRS1994

Mapping Van

A NASA Center for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS) - developed system for satellite mapping has been commercialized for the first time. Global Visions, Inc. maps an area while driving along a road in a sophisticated mapping van equipped with satellite signal receivers, video cameras and computer systems for collecting and storing mapping data. Data is fed into a computerized geographic information system (GIS). The resulting amps can be used for tax assessment purposes, emergency dispatch vehicles and fleet delivery companies as well as other applications.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1996

Geodata Modeling and Query in Geographic Information Systems

Geographic information systems (GIS) deal with collecting, modeling, man- aging, analyzing, and integrating spatial (locational) and non-spatial (attribute) data required for geographic applications. Examples of spatial data are digital maps, administrative boundaries, road networks, and those of non-spatial data are census counts, land elevations and soil characteristics. GIS shares common areas with a number of other disciplines such as computer- aided design, computer cartography, database management, and remote sensing. None of these disciplines however, can by themselves fully meet the requirements of a GIS application. Examples of such requirements include: the ability to use locational data to produce high quality plots, perform complex operations such as network analysis, enable spatial searching and overlay operations, support spatial analysis and modeling, and provide data management functions such as efficient storage, retrieval, and modification of large datasets; independence, integrity, and security of data; and concurrent access to multiple users. It is on the data management issues that we devote our discussions in this monograph. Traditionally, database management technology have been developed for business applications. Such applications require, among other things, capturing the data requirements of high-level business functions and developing machine- level implementations; supporting multiple views of data and yet providing integration that would minimize redundancy and maintain data integrity and security; providing a high-level language for data definition and manipulation; allowing concurrent access to multiple users; and processing user transactions in an efficient manner. The demands on database management systems have been for speed, reliability, efficiency, cost effectiveness, and user-friendliness. Significant progress have been made in all of these areas over the last two decades to the point that many generalized database platforms are now available for developing data intensive applications that run in real-time. While continuous improvement is still being made at a very fast-paced and competitive rate, new application areas such as computer aided design, image processing, VLSI design, and GIS have been identified by many as the next generation of database applications. These new application areas pose serious challenges to the currently available database technology. At the core of these challenges is the nature of data that is manipulated. In traditional database applications, the database objects do not have any spatial dimension, and as such, can be thought of as point data in a multi-dimensional space. For example, each instance of an entity EMPLOYEE will have a unique value corresponding to every attribute such as employee id, employee name, employee address and so on. Thus, every Employee instance can be thought of as a point in a multi-dimensional space where each dimension is represented by an attribute. Furthermore, all operations on such data are one-dimensional. Thus, users may retrieve all entities satisfying one or more constraints. Examples of such constraints include employees with addresses in a certain area code, or salaries within a certain range. Even though constraints can be specified on multiple attributes (dimensions), the search for such data is essentially orthogonal across these dimensions.

Adam, Nabil↗
NASA NTRS2002

International Conference on Remote Sensing Applications for Archaeological Research and World Heritage Conservation

Contents include the following: Monitoring the Ancient Countryside: Remote Sensing and GIS at the Chora of Chersonesos (Crimea, Ukraine). Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS for Management Decision Support in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (Republic of Benin). Monitoring of deforestation invasion in natural reserves of northern Madagascar based on space imagery. Cartography of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Cartography and Land Use Change of World Heritage Areas and the Benefits of Remote Sensing and GIS for Conservation. Assessing and Monitoring Vegetation in Nabq Protected Area, South Sinai, Egypt, using combine approach of Satellite Imagery and Land Surveys. Evaluation of forage resources in semi-arid savannah environments with satellite imagery: contribution to the management of a protected area (Nakuru National Park) in Kenya. SOGHA, the Surveillance of Gorilla Habitat in World Heritage sites using Space Technologies. Application of Remote Sensing to monitor the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (France). Application of Remote Sensing & GIS for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Social and Environmental monitoring of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Case Study over the Vosges du Nord and Pfalzerwald Parks using Corona and Spot Imagery. Satellite Remote Sensing as tool to Monitor Indian Reservation in the Brazilian Amazonia. Remote Sensing and GIS Technology for Monitoring UNESCO World Heritage Sites - A Pilot Project. Urban Green Spaces: Modern Heritage. Monitoring of the technical condition of the St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in Kiev with Space Applications, geo-positioning systems and GIS tools. The Murghab delta palaeochannel Reconstruction on the Basis of Remote Sensing from Space. Acquisition, Registration and Application of IKONOS Space Imagery for the cultural World Heritage site at Mew, Turkmenistan. Remote Sensing and VR applications for the reconstruction of archaeological landscapes. Archaeology through Space: Experience in Indian Subcontinent. The creation of a GIS Archaeological Site Location Catalogue in Yucatan: A Tool to preserve its Cultural Heritage. Mapping the Ancient Anasazi Roads of Southeast Utah. Remote Sensing and GIS Technology for Identification of Conservation and Heritage sites in Urban Planning. Mapping Angkor: For a new appraisal of the Angkor region. Angkor and radar imaging: seeing a vast pre-industrial low-density, dispersed urban complex. Technical and methodological aspects of archaeological CRM integrating high resolution satellite imagery. The contribution of satellite imagery to archaeological survey: an example from western Syria. The use of satellite images, digital elevation models and ground truth for the monitoring of land degradation in the "Cinque Terre" National park. Remote Sensing and GIS Applications for Protection and Conservation of World Heritage Site on the coast - Case Study of Tamil Nadu Coast, India. Multispectral high resolution satellite imagery in combination with "traditional" remote sensing and ground survey methods to the study of archaeological landscapes. The case study of Tuscany. Use of Remotely-Sensed Imagery in Cultural Landscape. Characterisation at Fort Hood, Texas. Heritage Learning and Data Collection: Biodiversity & Heritage Conservation through Collaborative Monitoring & Research. A collaborative project by UNESCO's WHC (World Heritage Center) & The GLOBE Program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment). Practical Remote Sensing Activities in an Interdisciplinary Master-Level Space Course.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1977

An application of LANDSAT digital technology to forest fire fuel type mapping

The role of digital classifications suitable as fuel maps was examined. A Taylor enhancement was produced for an 8 million hectare fire control region showing water, muskeg, coniferous, deciduous and mixed stands, clearcut logging, burned areas, regeneration areas, nonforested areas and large forest roads. Use of the map by fire control personnel demonstrated its usefulness for initial attack decision making.

Kourtz, P. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

ERTS-1 MSS imagery: Its use in delineating soil associations and as a base map for publishing soils information

ERTS 1 imagery is a useful tool in the identification and refinement of soil association areas and an excellent base map upon which soil association information can be published. Prints of bands 5 and 7 were found to be most useful to help delineate major soil and vegetation areas. After delineating major soil areas, over 4800 land sale prices covering a period of 1967-72 were located in the soil areas and averaged. The soil association then were described as soil association value areas and published on a 1:1,000,000 scale ERTS mosaic of South Dakota constructed using negative prints of band 7. The map is intended for use by state and county revenue officers, by individual buyers and sellers of land and lending institutions, and as a reference map by those planning road routes and cable lines and pipelines.

Westin, F. C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Soil erosion and causative factors at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

Areas of significant soil erosion and unvegetated road cuts were identified and mapped for Vandenberg Air Force Base. One hundred forty-two eroded areas (most greater than 1.2 ha) and 51 road cuts were identified from recent color infrared aerial photography and ground truthed to determine the severity and causes of erosion. Comparison of the present eroded condition of soils (as shown in the 1986 photography) with that in historical aerial photography indicates that most erosion on the base took place prior to 1928. However, at several sites accelerated rates of erosion and sedimentation may be occurring as soils and parent materials are eroded vertically. The most conspicuous erosion is in the northern part of the base, where severe gully, sheet, and mass movement erosion have occurred in soils and in various sedimentary rocks. Past cultivation practices, compounded by highly erodible soils prone to subsurface piping, are probably the main causes. Improper range management practices following cultivation may have also increased runoff and erosion. Aerial photography from 1986 shows that no appreciable headward erosion or gully sidewall collapse have occurred in this area since 1928.

Butterworth, Joel B.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Visual SLAM Using Variance Grid Maps

An algorithm denoted Gamma-SLAM performs further processing, in real time, of preprocessed digitized images acquired by a stereoscopic pair of electronic cameras aboard an off-road robotic ground vehicle to build accurate maps of the terrain and determine the location of the vehicle with respect to the maps. Part of the name of the algorithm reflects the fact that the process of building the maps and determining the location with respect to them is denoted simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Most prior real-time SLAM algorithms have been limited in applicability to (1) systems equipped with scanning laser range finders as the primary sensors in (2) indoor environments (or relatively simply structured outdoor environments). The few prior vision-based SLAM algorithms have been feature-based and not suitable for real-time applications and, hence, not suitable for autonomous navigation on irregularly structured terrain. The Gamma-SLAM algorithm incorporates two key innovations: Visual odometry (in contradistinction to wheel odometry) is used to estimate the motion of the vehicle. An elevation variance map (in contradistinction to an occupancy or an elevation map) is used to represent the terrain. The Gamma-SLAM algorithm makes use of a Rao-Blackwellized particle filter (RBPF) from Bayesian estimation theory for maintaining a distribution over poses and maps. The core idea of the RBPF approach is that the SLAM problem can be factored into two parts: (1) finding the distribution over robot trajectories, and (2) finding the map conditioned on any given trajectory. The factorization involves the use of a particle filter in which each particle encodes both a possible trajectory and a map conditioned on that trajectory. The base estimate of the trajectory is derived from visual odometry, and the map conditioned on that trajectory is a Cartesian grid of elevation variances. In comparison with traditional occupancy or elevation grid maps, the grid elevation variance maps are much better for representing the structure of vegetated or rocky terrain.

Howard, Andrew B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Collection of relevant results obtained with the ERTS-1 satellite images by the Institute for Space Research (INPE), volume 2

The author has identified the following significant results. Soil resource studies in Brazil have concluded that: areas with agricultural activities appear surrounding urban centers; some areas are suffering a strong erosion action; there exist two drainage systems near Paraguai River and Parana River; and this region possesses great variety of soil types. It is possible to count the number of lakes and sluices as well as their superficial area using a channel 7 photographic enlargement. The great concentration of water bodies along the Jacui River determines the large rice crops. Data concerning regions around Teresina City, Presidente Prudente, Piracicaba City, Dourados, and Tres Marias Dam revealed several characteristics concerning the soil and water resources. Two basic maps were made of the natural vegetation distribution over central eastern Brazil from data ERTS-1 data. One map shows the drainage system, the road system, and cities; while the second shows the natural vegetation. It was possible to identify old reforestation, new reforestation, natural forest in flat lands, and natural forest in rolling lands from the ERTS images. Different pasture plant species could be identified by multispectral remote sensing. Data obtained along different wavelength bands provide essential data for the range manager to evaluate his range and to establish a suitable policy. Hydrographic mapping was done using the ERTS images.

Demendonca, F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Toward autonomous driving: The CMU Navlab. II - Architecture and systems

A description is given of EDDIE, the architecture for the Navlab mobile robot which provides a toolkit for building specific systems quickly and easily. Included in the discussion are the annotated maps used by EDDIE and the Navlab's road-following system, called the Autonomous Mail Vehicle, which was built using EDDIE and its annotated maps as a basis. The contributions of the Navlab project and the lessons learned from it are examined.

Thorpe, Charles↗
NASA NTRS2001

Road Extraction from AVIRIS Using Spectral Mixture and Q-Tree Filter Techniques

Accurate road location and condition information are of primary importance in road infrastructure management. Additionally, spatially accurate and up-to-date road networks are essential in ambulance and rescue dispatch in emergency situations. However, accurate road infrastructure databases do not exist for vast areas, particularly in areas with rapid expansion. Currently, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) extends great effort in field Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping and condition assessment to meet these informational needs. This methodology, though effective, is both time-consuming and costly, because every road within a DOT's jurisdiction must be field-visited to obtain accurate information. Therefore, the USDOT is interested in identifying new technologies that could help meet road infrastructure informational needs more effectively. Remote sensing provides one means by which large areas may be mapped with a high standard of accuracy and is a technology with great potential in infrastructure mapping. The goal of our research is to develop accurate road extraction techniques using high spatial resolution, fine spectral resolution imagery. Additionally, our research will explore the use of hyperspectral data in assessing road quality. Finally, this research aims to define the spatial and spectral requirements for remote sensing data to be used successfully for road feature extraction and road quality mapping. Our findings will facilitate the USDOT in assessing remote sensing as a new resource in infrastructure studies.

Gardner, Margaret E.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Applications of Skylab EREP photographs to mapping landforms and environmental geomorphology in the Great Plains and Midwest

The following evaluations of Skylab photographs were undertaken: (1) the 1290 Skylab S190A and S190B photographs of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota were evaluated in detail in terms of coverage, cloud cover, photographic quality, endlap, detectability of roads and stereorelief, and utility for geomorphologic mapping, and (2) the utility of the Skylab photos were tested for interpretive analytic mapping of geomorphologic features over large areas representative of different parts of this region. Photointerpretative maps of analytic geomorphology were obtained for various test areas representative of the varied landscapes in the region. These maps are useful for regional land-use planning, ground-water exploration, and other environmental geomorphologic-geologic applications. Compared with LANDSAT-1 MSS images, Skylab photos afford almost as extensive overviews of large areas but in considerably greater detail, and for many SL photos, moderate stereorelief. However, repetitive multiseasonal, cloud-free coverage by high-quality photos is very limited and many areas have no coverage at all.

Morrison, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

A Heuristic Approach to Global Landslide Susceptibility Mapping

Landslides can have significant and pervasive impacts to life and property around the world. Several attempts have been made to predict the geographic distribution of landslide activity at continental and global scales. These efforts shared common traits such as resolution, modeling approach, and explanatory variables. The lessons learned from prior research have been applied to build a new global susceptibility map from existing and previously unavailable data. Data on slope, faults, geology, forest loss, and road networks were combined using a heuristic fuzzy approach. The map was evaluated with a Global Landslide Catalog developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as several local landslide inventories. Comparisons to similar susceptibility maps suggest that the subjective methods commonly used at this scale are, for the most part, reproducible. However, comparisons of landslide susceptibility across spatial scales must take into account the susceptibility of the local subset relative to the larger study area. The new global landslide susceptibility map is intended for use in disaster planning, situational awareness, and for incorporation into global decision support systems.

mapping↗
NASA NTRS2022

Could Road Constructions Be More Hazardous Than an Earthquake in Terms of Mass Movement?

Roads can have a significant impact on the frequency of mass wasting events in mountainous areas. However, characterizing the extent and pervasiveness of mass movements over time has rarely been documented due to limitations in available data sources to consistently map such events. We monitored the evolution of a road network and assessed its effect on mass movements for a 11-year window in Arhavi, Turkey. The main road construction projects run in the area are associated with a hydroelectric power plant as well as other road extension works and are clearly associated with the vast majority (90.1%) of mass movements in the area. We also notice that the overall number and size of the mass movements are much larger than in the naturally-occurring comparison area. This means that the sediment load originating from the anthropogenically induced mass movements is larger than its counterpart associated with naturally occurred landslides. Notably, this extra sediment load could cause river channel aggregation, reduce accommodation space and as a consequence, it could lead to an increase in the probability and severity of flooding along the river channel. This marks a strong and negative effect of human activities on the natural course of earth surface processes. We also compare frequency-area distributions of human-induced mass movements mapped in this study and co-seismic landslide inventories from the literature. By doing so, we aim to better understand the consequences of human effects on mass movements in a comparative manner. Our findings show that the damage generated by the road construction in terms of sediment loads to river channels is compatible with the possible effect of a theoretical earthquake with a magnitude greater than Mw=6.0.

Hakan Tanyas↗
NASA NTRS1974

A summary of ERTS data applications in Alaska

ERTS has proven to be an exceedingly useful tool for the preparation of urgently needed resource surveys in Alaska. For this reason the wide utilization of ERTS data by federal, state and industrial agencies in Alaska is increasingly directed toward the solution of operational problems in resource inventories, environmental surveys, and land use planning. Examples of some applications are discussed in connection with surveys of potential agricultural lands; mapping of predicted archaeological sites; permafrost terrain and aufeis mapping; snow melt enhancement from Prudhoe Bay roads; geologic interpretations correlated ith possible new petroleum fields, with earthquake activity, and with plate tectonic motion along the Denali fault system; hydrology in monitoring surging glaciers and the break-up characteristics of the Chena River watershed; sea-ice morphology correlated with marine mammal distribution; and coastal sediment plume circulation patterns.

Miller, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Relationship between forest clearing and biophysical factors in tropical environments: Implications for the design of a forest change monitoring approach

The relationship between forest clearing, biophysical factors (e.g, ecological zones, slope gradient, soils), and transportation network in Costa Rica was analyzed. The location of forested areas at four reference datas (1940, 1950, 1961, and 1977) as derived from aerial photography and LANDSAT MSS data was digitilized and entered into a geographically-referenced data base. Ecological zones as protrayed by the Holdridge Life Zone Ecology System, and the location of roads and railways were also digitized from maps of the entire country as input to the data base. Information on slope gradient and soils was digitized from maps of a 21,000 square kilometer area. The total area of forest cleared over four decades are related to biophysical factors was analyzed within the data base and deforestation rates and trends were tabulated. The relatiohship between forest clearing and ecological zone and the influence of topography, sils, and transportation network are presented and discussed.

Sader, S. A.↗