Abstract:Abstract: Research purposes: For along time,although the earth observation technology plays an important role in railway survey and design,but there is relative lag of its application in railway survey and design in China when the new earth observation technology achieves a rapid development. Now the China railway has entered the era of high speed,with the development of the latest earth observation technology,the new process flow and the breakthrough of the earth observation technology that is available for the railway survey and design mus be found.
Research conclusions: Aiming at the development trend of the latest earth observation technology development,on one hand ,the applied potential of the existing earth observation technology and data should be unearthed,and on the other hand,the research and application should be strengthened for the latest earth observation technology and its achievements,such as the digital aerial photography,the airborne laser radar and the high resolution satellite image data. Not only can the earth observation technology be applied in the national basis mapping,but also can be applied in the railway topographic mapping,railway track alignment,railway engineering geologic survey and railway environment evaluation.