EuroSDR Workshop: Automated Change Detection for Updating National Databases

This EuroSDRWorkshop, hosted by the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain (OS), was held in Southampton, England over two long half-days on 4th and 5th March 2010. The stated purpose was ‘‘to baseline research and to provide a stimulus for practical implementation of automated change detection methodologies’’. The list of registered delegates included 60 individuals from 13 countries; very slightly fewer actually attended, all of them from within Europe, the majority representing national mapping and cadastral agencies (NMCAs) or organisations collaborating with NMCAs. About 20% of those present were members of OS, obviously taking full advantage of the opportunity both to discuss the substantial recent OS progress and to learn from the experience of those working elsewhere. Your reporter, so long away from direct personal involvement in this subject matter, felt particularly privileged to be allowed to return and to witness developments in the main stream of modern photogrammetry in support of topographic mapping, in direct succession from his own activities in OS, ISPRS and OEEPE (now EuroSDR) some 25 to 15 years ago. The meeting was opened by Malcolm Havercroft (Head of Operations: Data Collection & Management at OS) who gave an introduction to the management of change in OS databases and pointed out that there is nothing new about change detection, a major part of OS work for generations. It is the automation of the process which is relatively new and which forms an essential step in the search for the Holy Grail of the automated extraction of geospatial database features from the real world. He elaborated on the stated purpose of the meeting, adding the identification of the common needs of NMCAs; the highlighting of best practice, current technology and case studies of practical implementation of automated change detection; and the identification of possible routes to wider implementation. He emphasised that only civilian users and processes would be covered, while remarking that there is doubtless a crossover between these and the possibilities already available to the military and noting the need to be ready to embrace them, as and when any such military technologies become more widely available. The first day (with a late addition at the beginning of the second day) would cover formal presentations by researchers; this would be followed by visits to the OS Photogrammetric Services division which has been testing systems in production, and by the analysis of a questionnaire to NMCAs distributed in advance. The second day would consist mainly of ‘‘break-out sessions’’ in three separate groups to discuss aspects of success and failure in automated change detection to date, followed by a plenary session to summarise the outcomes of the break-out sessions and attempt to reach some conclusions and directions for future steps. Since Havercroft’s introductory remarks, given chiefly for the benefit of foreign visitors, are not available with the main research presentations via the EuroSDR website (details given at the end of this report) it may be useful to readers to include here some of the interesting OS The Photogrammetric Record 25(132): 454–457 (December 2010)