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Structure from Motion 3 m DEM of Vicksburg, MS created from 1962 aerial imagery

February 24, 2025
The dataset is a 3 m spatial resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) representing terrain heights in northern Vicksburg, MS and Vicksburg National Military Park in 1962. The DEM was created using structure from motion-aided (SfM-aided) photogrammetry techniques in Agisoft Metashape (v 2.1.1). The aerial images were acquired on February 10, 1962 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at approximately 1:18,000 scale by a Fairchild T-12 Number 53-121 camera (9 inch x 9 inch frame) with a Bausch and Lomb Planigon XF6738 lens, calibrated focal length of 152.379. Digitization information is not available, it can be assumed that these photographs were converted to digital by a photogrammetric-quality digital scanning back system operated by the USGS EROS data center. In total 17 frames were downloaded, ranging from 1VAJR00020005 to 1VAJR00020010, from 1VAJR00020026 to 1VAJR00020030, and from 1VAJR00020037 to 1VAJR00020042. Ground reference was established through 16 ground control points (GCPs), with horizontal coordinates acquired from high-resolution orthoimagery (HRO) of Warren County, Mississippi, and vertical elevations acquired from a 1m DEM created from 2020 lidar. The dense point cloud produced by the SfM-aided photogrammetric process was classified to identify points lying on or near the ground; these ground points were then used to interpolate a DEM with a spatial resolution of 91.5 cm. Errors and noise in the DEM surface were reduced through filtering and then resampled to 3 m using bilinear interpolation.
Publication Year 2025
Title Structure from Motion 3 m DEM of Vicksburg, MS created from 1962 aerial imagery
DOI 10.5066/P1KAZSCA
Authors Jessica D Dewitt
Product Type Data Release
Record Source USGS Asset Identifier Service (AIS)
USGS Organization Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
Rights This work is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal
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