Most people are somewhat familiar with the looks of satellite imagery – it can allow us to see urban areas after dark, watch huge storms develop over vast ocean spaces, and even look at our own neighborhood from “outer space”. We understand that any satellite devices are capable of remarkable functions and can also record highly detailed and accurate images. Quite often these images are used to create what are known as satellite maps.
Satellite imagery is something put to use by groups and organizations that require extremely accurate information. For instance, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) looks to the pinpoint accuracy available through satellite images to create their very precise maps. Of course, it isn’t just the images taken by the devices orbiting above the Earth that allows them to create their maps. They must also rely on surface and terrain data in order to ensure their figures and documents are correct.
For example, satellite maps, if created strictly from existing maps and satellite imagery, would not be able to provide true representations of the contours of the land. This would require additional figures such as altitudes, elevation recordings, and other survey data. Only by combining these varied data sets (satellite images, surface data, and existing maps) can a powerfully accurate map be created.
Any group hoping to create satellite maps will usually put something known as GIS technology to work. This stands for a “geographic information system”, which uses varied forms of analysis to create a visual rendering of complex data. It doesn’t always result in a map, but it is how the most highly exact maps come into being.
For example, modern satellite maps would be able to be combined with geographic data to create a truly three-dimensional image representing a country and its borders. This sort of image would be pin-point accurate and could even have photographic imagery which would have been provided through any satellite map data.