Articles | Volume 17, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5811-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5811-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Data description article
| 
04 Nov 2025
Data description article |
| 04 Nov 2025
| 04 Nov 2025
Countrywide digital surface models and vegetation height models from historical aerial images
Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Livia Piermattei
Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Lars T. Waser
Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Christian Ginzler
Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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Short summary
Millions of aerial photographs represent an enormous resource for geoscientists. In this study, we used freely available historical stereo images covering Switzerland (1979–2006) to derive four countrywide digital elevation models (DSMs) at a 1 m spatial resolution. Our DSMs achieved sub-metric accuracy compared to reference data and high image matching completeness, demonstrating the feasibility of capturing surface change at a high spatial resolution over different land cover classes.
Millions of aerial photographs represent an enormous resource for geoscientists. In this study,...
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