Building height detection from high-resolution TerraSAR-X imagery and GIS data

Due to the remarkable improvements that have been made in radar sensors, high-resolution SAR images are now available, thus providing detailed ground surface information. In this study, a new method is developed to detect building heights automatically using 2D GIS data and a single high-resolution TerraSAR-X (TSX) intensity image. A building in a SAR image shows a layover from the actual position in the direction of the sensor, due to the side-looking nature of SAR. Since the length of the layover is proportional to the height of the building, it can be used to estimate the building height. To do this, we shift the building shape obtained from 2D GIS data in the direction of the sensor. The proposed method was tested on a TSX image of San Francisco, U.S.A. in HighSpot mode, using a resolution of about 1 m. Comparing the result with that obtained using Lidar data, the RMS error was found to be less than 3 m, which is about the height of one building story.