LOW-COST DIGITIZING OF COLOR MAPPING FOR CARTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS SYSTEMS

COLOR-CODED MAPPING HAS BEEN LONG BEEN REGARDED AS A VERY EFFECTIVE MEANS OF PRESENTING SPATIALLY VARIANT INFORMATION.THE NEXT DECADE WILL SEE A MAJOR CHANGE IN HOW THIS MAPPING IS PREPARED AND DISTRIBUTED. MUCH ACTIVITY WILL FOCUS ON THE USE OF DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS. LARGE STOCKS OF EXISTING "HARDCOPY" MAPPING AND PHOTOGRAPHY, AND THE RELATIVELY HIGH COST OF DIGITIZING \ARE MAJOR DISINCENTIVES TO THE ADOPTION OF DIGITAL MAPPING TECHNIQUES. THIS RESEARCH EXAMINES THE FEASIBILITY OF USINGLOW-COST VIDEO CAMERAS, CHARGED COUPLE DEVICES, AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES AS DIGITIZING DEVICES FOR THE CONVERSION OF FULL COLOR MAPPING AND OTHER IMAGERY TO DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHICDATA BASES. IN PARTICULAR, THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEMI- AUTOMATED TECHNIQUES TO ACCURATELY SEPERATE DIGITIZED COLOR INFORMATION INTO APPROPRIATE CLASSES IS ADDRESSED. THE PROPOSED APPROACH IS BASED UPON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTIN COLOR AND MULTISPECTRAL PATTERN RECOGNITION AND IN SPATIAL RECOGNITION.