Processing

Orthorectification

Geometric correction that projects imagery onto a digital elevation model so every pixel sits at its true ground position.

RAW IMAGERYimage plane (skewed)ORTHO+ DEMORTHORECTIFIEDimage plane (true ground position)
Fig. 1 Orthorectification projects the raw slant-view image onto a digital elevation model so that every pixel sits at its true ground position. Without it, mountainous and tilted-view captures show severe geometric displacement.

Raw satellite imagery is geometrically distorted by terrain, sensor tilt, and Earth curvature. Orthorectification projects the image onto a digital elevation model so that every pixel sits at its true ground position. If you have ground control points or a prior reference dataset, we align to those so multi-date stacks register pixel-perfect.

Why it matters

You can overlay images from different dates and the buildings don't move. Change detection work depends on this, and most teams don't realise how bad raw alignment is until they've tried to process it themselves. Orthorectification is included by default in every Geopera delivery.