Metodología para evaluación de la exactitud posicional vertical de los modelos digitales de elevación derivados de sensores remotos

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to propose a method for evaluating the vertical accuracy of digital elevation models (DEMs), which is applicable to the quality control process in the production line of the Sub-Directorate of Geography and Cartography of the Agustín Codazi Geographic Institute (Subdirección de Geografía y Cartografía del Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi [IGAC]), which also fulfills the institutional quality objectives. The proposed method outlines the steps for the following: 1) the definition of acceptance levels based on an uncertainty analysis of the sources of error inherent to DEMs; 2) the determination of the sampling design (method and size) as a function of the terrain characteristics (slope and cover); and 3) the assessment of the vertical accuracy based on different statistical measures for quantifying the error. The effectiveness of the method was tested through its application to a DEM data set generated by the Sub- Directorate of Geography and Cartography of IGAC.