CO-Kriging Approach for Cartosat-1 Height Product with ICESat/GLAS Data for Digital Elevation Surface Generation

Nowadays, Geostatistics and its various interpolation techniques have become a major threshold area in the field of research in GIS. In this research work poorly sampled (less accurate height data relative to ICESat/GLAS height data) Cartosat-1 height data has been used with well sampled (more accurate height data relative to Cartosat-1 height data) ICESat/GLAS LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) height point data using Cokriging Interpolation technique, to study the effect of ICESat/GLAS on Cartosat-1 height data. Space borne LiDAR data has led researchers to explore its utilities in many applications. Space borne LiDAR data can be acquired through space borne LiDAR sensors also, like; GLAS (Geoscience Laser Altimeter System) system onboard ICESat (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) satellite. In this study, it has been tried to apply Cokriging interpolation on two different sources of data sets, with a common variable (elevation) to generate DES and assessment of this surface has been conducted by DGPS data. After optimizing Cokriging parameters, results of digital elevation surface (DES) generated using Cokriging showed that RMSE has been second least than global polynomial in comparison to Kriging interpolation RMSE after being evaluated by GPS values. So, global polynomial as well as cokriging interpolation technique out performs while comparing with kriging technique for DES generation.