Systems and methods for multispectral landscape mapping

A method of generating geo-referenced spectral images of a landscape from a first plurality of images captured by a first image sensor of an aerial platform and a plurality of spectral images captured by a multispectral (MS) image sensor of the aerial platform, the method comprising:

• performing an aerial triangulation and bundle adjustment process on the first plurality of images to determine first image sensor external orientation (EO) data, the first image sensor EO data defining the EO of the first image sensor when each of the first plurality of images was captured by the first image sensor;
• generating a digital elevation product from the plurality of first images and the first image sensor EO data;
• and
• orthorectifying at least one of the plurality of spectral images according to the digital elevation product.

An apparatus for performing multispectral three-dimensional mapping of a landscape, comprising:

• an aerial platform configured to move over an aerial flight path relative to the landscape;
• a wide-field of view (WFOV) camera operably disposed on the aerial platform and having a first field of view and configured to sequentially capture WFOV image data of the landscape in partially overlapping adjacent first fields of view when moving over the aerial flight path;
• at least one multispectral (MS) camera operably disposed on the aerial platform proximate the WFOV camera and comprising a second field of view that is narrower than the first field of view and configured to sequentially capture narrow-field of view (NFOV) multispectral (MS) image data of the landscape in partially overlapping adjacent second fields of view that reside within corresponding ones of the partially overlapping first fields of view when the aerial platform is moving over the aerial flight path;
• and
• wherein the apparatus is configured to trigger the WFOV camera and the at least one MS camera at the same time.