EVALUATION OF STEREOSCOPIC GEOEYE-1 SATELLITE IMAGERY TO ASSESS LANDSCAPE AND STAND LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS

An ongoing remote sensing project has been underway within the Coast Forest Region since 2000. The initial parts of the project investigated the application of commercially available high-resolution satellite imagery to resource feature mapping and compliance and enforcement surveillance. In the current project, stereo imagery from the new GeoEye-1 satellite was acquired. This system provides 0.5m panchromatic and 1.65m colour imagery, which is approximately a four time increase in spatial resolution compared to IKONOS imagery. Stereo imagery at this resolution enables the delineation of single trees, coarse woody debris measurement and the generation of Digital Elevation Models and estimation of volumes of material displaced by landslides. Change detection and identification of high priority zones for Compliance & Enforcement investigation is greatly enhanced. Results of this research are presented and discussed.