Optimal selection of GCPs from Global Land Survey 2005 for precision geometric correction of Landsat-8 imagery

To conduct precision geometric correction of Landsat-8 data, all ground control points from the Global Land Survey (GLS) 2005 are typically selected, thereby making the process time consuming and labor intensive. This paper developed an optimal selection algorithm for choosing representative points. The optimal technique consists of three steps, including 1) evaluating the spatial distribution patterns of points from GLS2005, 2) extracting ideal points positions from each scene based on the spatial distribution patterns obtained in the first step, and 3) selecting real representatives GCPs from the original large number of GCPs based on the positions of ideal points. One hundred individual Landsat-8 images were chosen for precision geometric correction to assess the robustness and efficiency of the method. Experimental result demonstrated that the approach could only consume 1/10 processing time or less when compared to that using the full set of original GCPs while still achieving comparable geometric accuracy. The developed technique will make an important contribution to improving the efficiency of precision geometric product generation systems for Landsat-8 images.