Australian Geographic Reference Image

Data product

Version:: 1.0.0
Type:: Baseline, Raster
Resolution:: 2.5-10 m
Data updates:: No further updates (Previously: As needed)

Overview

About

The Australian Geographic Reference Image (AGRI) is a consistent and accurate reference image for rectification of imagery from multiple sources at resolutions of 2.5 m or less.

Access the data

For help accessing the data, see the Access tab.

Access the data on NCI

Data sources

Key specifications

For more specifications, see the Specifications tab.

DOI	10.4225/25/5524BA4A047FE
Tags	agri, natural_mosaic, utm_zone_mosaics
Licence	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Cite this product

Data citation

Geoscience Australia, 2011. AGRI: The Australian Geographic Reference Image. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/25/5524BA4A047FE

Publications

Lewis, A., Wang, L.-W., Coghlan, R. (2011). AGRI: The Australian Geographic Reference Image. Geoscience Australia Technical Report. http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/25/5524BA4A047FE

Ravanbakhsh, M., Wang, L.-W., Fraser, C. S., & Lewis, A. (2012). Generation of the Australian Geographic Reference Image Through Long-Strip Alos Prism Orientation. ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 39B1, 225–229. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XXXIX-B1-225-2012

Description

Background

It is important to ensure that satellite images are consistently and accurately registered to allow the maximum extraction of information.

What this product offers

The Australian Geographic Reference Image (AGRI) is a consistent and accurate reference image for rectification of imagery from multiple sources at resolutions of 2.5 m or less.

The AGRI provides a consistent base image intended, at the time of production, to provide an important foundation for future mapping and monitoring across Australia.

Applications

The AGRI is a resource for both users and providers of satellite imagery covering Australia in:

Government agencies — Commonwealth, State and Local
Research institutions
Spatial Information Industry
International satellite operators

Ground Control Points from the AGRI have fed into satellite image processing systems of the United States Geological Survey and of the European Space Agency. Consequently, imagery from the Landsat satellites and from the Copernicus Sentinel satellites are accurately and consistently geo-registered across Australia.

Similarly, commercial satellite operators are understood to have used the AGRI to improve their product quality.

Reference image — image to image rectification, image chip source, quality control layer.

Basemap — feature revision and verification, reference layer.

Technical information

National mosaic — 10m georeferenced image
UTM zone mosaics — 2.5m georeferenced images
Ground Control Point spatial database
Ground Control Point ancillary data (photographs, site sketches and image chips).

Lineage

The Australian Geographic Reference Image (AGRI) is a consistent and accurate reference image for rectification of imagery from multiple sources at resolutions of 2.5 metres or less. The AGRI is needed because the emerging new satellites and other sources of imagery will generate increasing amounts of data. The AGRI can ensure that images from these sources are consistently and accurately registered to allow the maximum extraction of information.

During compilation more than 9560 satellite scenes, totalling over 6 terabytes, were used to produce eight mosaics, covering each of Australia’s Universal Transverse Mercator map zones. These mosaics were then combined to produce a single mosaic covering the Australian continent. Intensity and contrast balancing were used to ensure visual consistency across the mosaic while maintaining the dynamic range of the image.

The AGRI was made possible by new scientific and technical capabilities, international collaboration, the Australian spatial information industry, and the leadership and capabilities of Geoscience Australia. Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) made possible the complete coverage of high quality imagery, which forms the foundation of the AGRI, as well as accurate data on the satellite orbit. Geoscience Australia was an international collaborator on the ALOS; handling data for the Oceania region. The Barista software, developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, made the project feasible in terms of time, logistics, and cost. Barista reduced the image registration problem from correction of almost 10 000 scenes to correction of just 105 orbit segments (Lewis et al, 2011).

The expertise and capability of the Australian spatial information industry was used in the design of GIS databases to manage the survey data and to conduct the many field surveys to remote areas of Australia. The expertise and capabilities of Geoscience Australia staff in both Earth observation and geodesy were also essential inputs to the project (Lewis et al, 2011).

Processing steps

See the product description and technical report for the detailed methodology (doi:10.4225/25/5524BA4A047FE).

References

Lewis, A., Wang, L.-W., Coghlan, R. (2011). AGRI: The Australian Geographic Reference Image. Geoscience Australia Technical Report. http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/25/5524BA4A047FE

Ravanbakhsh, M., Wang, L.-W., Fraser, C. S., & Lewis, A. (2012). Generation of the Australian Geographic Reference Image through long-strip ALOS PRISM orientation. ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XXXIX-B1, 225–229. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XXXIX-B1-225-2012

Rottensteiner, F., Weser, T., Lewis, A., & Fraser, C. S. (2009). A strip adjustment approach for precise georeferencing of ALOS optical imagery. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 47(12), 4083–4091. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2009.2014366

Quality

Accuracy

Absolute geometric accuracy: 5.6m CEP90.

Cloudy over some areas.

Quality assurance

Independent check points from GPS survey.

Specifications

Product information

This metadata provides general information about the product.

Short name	Australian Geographic Reference Image	The name that is commonly used to refer to the product.
Version	1.0.0	The version number of the product.
Lineage type	Baseline	Baseline products are produced directly from satellite data.
Spatial type	Raster	Raster data consists of a grid of pixels.
Spatial resolution	2.5-10 m	The size of the pixels in the raster.
Update frequency	As needed (Inactive)	Previously, when data updates were active, this was their expected frequency. Also called ‘Temporal resolution’.
Update activity	No further updates	The activity status of data updates.
DOI	10.4225/25/5524BA4A047FE	The Digital Object Identifier.
Catalogue ID	72657	The Data and Publications catalogue (eCat) ID.
Licence	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence	See the Credits tab.