What are ground control points and why are they important?

Ground control points are markers that need to be placed within the region of interest and act as a point of reference for the location of the region and attributes within it,  delineating region boundaries and facilitating the matching of imagery for analysis to the real world.

The commercially acquired ground control points provide an accurate GPS location for referencing the data.

See section on “Georeferencing datasets” in “Know your species and Landscape” for more discussion or head to the following link for further information about GCPs and the number that may be required: