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Much of the world is already mapped at scales of 1:50,000 or better. Even for poorly mapped and often remote areas, good techniques (airborne surveys, optical stereo and radar interferometry) already exist to derive topography. However, high prices and the conditions under which information has to be obtained often form a barrier and keep those interested from acquiring images and information.

Already during the TISAR project, which was setting up an operational Digital Elevantion Model (DEM) production line and services using radargrammetric and interferometric SAR images, the TISAR consortium served commercial clients with topographic maps.

The whole province of Santa Cruz (Patagonia) was topographically mapped by combination of various techniques and sensors. The 400,000 km2 area was delivered within 6 months to the Catalonia Cartographic Institute (ICC).

The consortium (Synoptics and Sarmap) offers high quality 3D topographic information in the form of Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and Ortho-rectified Images (ORI) against a low price, which can be delivered within weeks or even days.

Radargrammetric DEM and ORI of Santa Cruz
Over 96 Radarsat Standard and Wide beam images were used for a full stereo cover over Santa Cruz (see Figure 2), 58 S7 images and 38 W2. Due to the large overlap between adjacent satellite tracks, areas were covered more than once; the extra information was used for eliminating height errors.