Rapid Georeferencing of Sensor-Limited Helicopter Imagery for Wildfire Response

Abstract

Abstract. In the initial response to wildfires, securing rapid and accurate geographic information is essential. However, helicopter imagery acquired on-site often lacks precise sensor metadata, such as camera pose and internal parameters, making the application of georeferencing difficult. In particular, obliquely captured wildfire imagery presents additional registration challenges due to severe viewpoint changes, scale variations, and low-texture environments. This study proposes an automated georeferencing pipeline capable of operating under these constraints. The proposed method consists of five stages: preprocessing, image retrieval, feature extraction and matching, Exterior Orientation Parameters (EOP) estimation, and orthomosaic generation. An initial Area of Interest (AOI) is defined using inaccurate initial position data, and the Region of Interest (ROI) within the reference map is obtained through a ResNet50-based image retrieval approach. Subsequently, virtual Ground Control Points (GCPs) are generated through deep learning-based feature matching. Elevation data is then assigned using a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and EOP are estimated via Perspective-n-Point (PnP) and RANSAC algorithms. Intermediate frames are initialized via interpolation and refined through bundle adjustment to produce the final orthomosaic. Experimental results demonstrated that utilizing SuperGlue and LightGlue complementarily increased the number of successfully georeferenced intervals from 5 to 9. Furthermore, a minimum RMSE of 28.30 m was achieved in the most accurate interval. This method proves that by automating the feature-based georeferencing process, practical geographic information can be rapidly provided for initial disaster response, even in sensor-limited environments.