Geodetic Accuracy of LANDSAT-4 Multispectral Scanner and Thematic Mapper Data

The geodetic accuracy of an MSS or TM scene is assessed using a minicomputer and appropriate software, a digitizer, and an image display device. The calculated image location of a selected feature is compared with the actual image location obtained though visual inspection of the image on the display. Measurements of 15 to 20 features evenly distributed throughout the image provide an estimate of the geodetic accuracy of the scene. Tests of two system-corrected MSS scenes measured geodetic registration root-mean-square (RMS) errors of approximately 3,200 m or 57 pixels. Tests of two TM system-corrected scenes measured RMS errors of approximately 1,250 and 1,000 m, or 44 and 35 pixels, respectively. All errors were primarily translational, implying good internal scene registration of both MSS and TM data. The one MSS GCP-corrected scene which was evaluated had an RMS error of approximately 325 m or 6 pixels.