PhotoSat

Resources

Supporting Safe and Responsible Projects
At PhotoSat, we believe in promoting best practices by sharing our technical expertise, innovative solutions, and industry insights. Since 1993, we have built a unique knowledge base that reflects our multi-disciplinary expertise in remote sensing, geophysical data processing, exploration geology, mine site operations, and tailings management. Learn more today.

Resource
Accuracy Studies
119 cm RMSE from ALOS PRISM
This study shows a topographic map, produced from PRISM satellite imagery with 3 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 1.19 m RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
12 cm RMSE with WorldView-2 (153 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-2 satellite imagery with 153 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 12 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
13 cm RMSE from WorldView-3
This study shows a topographic survey, produced from WV-3 satellite imagery with 10 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 12 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
13 cm RMSE with WorldView-3 (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-3 satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 13 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
13 cm RMSE with WorldView-3 (153 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-3 satellite imagery with 153 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 13 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
14 cm RMSE with WorldView-1 (153 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-1 satellite imagery with 153 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 14 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
14 cm RMSE with WorldView-2 (21 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-2 satellite imagery with 21 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 14 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
140 cm RMSE with SPOT-7 (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic map, produced from SPOT-7 satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 1.4 m RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
15 cm RMSE with WorldView-2 (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-2 satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 15 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
15 cm RMSE with WorldView-3 (21 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-3 satellite imagery with 21 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 15 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
19 cm RMSE with WorldView-1 (21 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-1 satellite imagery with 21 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 19 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
19 cm RMSE with WorldView-3 (2 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-3 satellite imagery with 2 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 19 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
20 cm RMSE with WorldView-2 (2 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-2 satellite imagery with 2 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 20 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
21 cm RMSE with Kompsat-3A (14 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from Kompsat-3A satellite imagery with 14 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 21 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
23 cm RMSE with WorldView-1 (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-1 satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 23 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
23 cm RMSE with WorldView-1 (9 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from WV-1 satellite imagery with 9 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 23 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
237 cm RMSE with ALOS PRISM (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic map, produced from PRISM satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 2.37 m RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
26 cm RMSE with Pleiades 1B (74 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from Pleiades 1B satellite imagery with 74 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 26 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
28 cm RMSE with Pleiades 1A (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from Pleiades 1B satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 28 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
48 cm RMSE with Kompsat-3A (11 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey, produced from Kompsat-3A satellite imagery with 11 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 48 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
50 cm RMSE with Kompsat-3A (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey, produced from Kompsat-3A satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 50 cm RMSE.
Accuracy Studies
53 cm RMSE with Kompsat-3A (1 GCP)
This study shows a topographic survey produced from Kompsat-3A satellite imagery with 1 GCP to a vertical accuracy of 53 cm RMSE.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
AbraPlata Diablillos Case History
This report shows how PhotoSat uses a topographic survey produced from WorldView-2 satellite imagery to verify drill hole collar data.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Cerro Casale Alteration Report (ASTER)
This report shows how PhotoSat uses ASTER satellite imagery to detect alteration minerals at the Cerro Casale gold-copper deposit.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Cerro Casale Alteration Report (WV-3)
This report shows how PhotoSat uses WorldView-3 satellite imagery to detect alteration minerals at the Cerro Casale gold-copper deposit.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Comparison of Topography for Dam Breach Analysis
This report compares the results of dam breach simulations conducted on SRTM vs. PhotoSat topographic surveys.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Filo del Sol Alteration Report (WV-3)
This report shows how PhotoSat uses WorldView-3 to detect alteration minerals at the Filo Del Sol deposit.
Technical Guides
Guidelines for Establishing Ground Control Targets
This document provides guidelines on how to construct ground targets and establish new ground control.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Mufulira Case Study
This case study shows how PhotoSat uses archive satellite imagery from multiple archives - Keyhole, Landsat, and WorldView - to reconstruct the survey history of a tailings facility.
Conference Papers
PASTE 2019: Satellite bathymetry
Satellite bathymetry for the monitoring of supernatant water volumes within TSFs (Navarro, Aravena, Engels, Turner)
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Preliminary Survey Report for Jagersfontein
This case study shows how PhotoSat uses imagery from satellite archives to reconstruct the survey record of the Jagersfontein Tailings Dam.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Red Mountain Alteration Report (WV-3)
This report shows how PhotoSat uses WorldView-3 to detect alteration minerals at the Red Mountain gold deposit.
Alteration Reports & White Papers
Submission to the Global Tailings Review
Mine site surveying in evaluating and mitigating risks of failure of mine tailings facilities (Mitchell, 2019)
Conference Papers
Tailings 2022: Impact of Topographic Errors
Impact of Topographic Errors on Tailings Dam Breach Analysis (Turner, Ng, Ellithorpe)
Conference Papers
TMW 2015: Satellite monitoring
Satellite monitoring of a large tailings storage facility (Schmidt, Malgesini, Turner, Reinson)
Conference Papers
TMW 2020: Creating TSF Histories
Creating TSF Histories Using Modern Commercial and Declassified Cold War Satellite Photos (Mitchell, Turner, Rivet)
Conference Papers
TMW 2020: Mine Tailings Surveying
Mine Tailings Surveying After the Brumadinho Dam Failure (Mitchell, Turner, Rivet)
Conference Papers
TMW 2022: Impact of Topographic Errors
Impact of Topographic Errors on Tailings Dam Breach Analysis (Turner, Ng, Ellithorpe)
Webinars
Webinar Historical Imagery and offsets, Sam
In partnership with Edumine, Sam Rivet provide an overview of the types of survey errors, offsets, and historical record for Mufulira TSF in Zambia.
Webinars
Webinar Margaret Introduction to Alteration Mineral Mapping
In partnership with CIM, Margaret McPherson PGeo will give an overview of alteration mapping by satellite imagery, and the benefits of spectral matching.