This paper makes two contributions to the problem of geometrical rectification of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) image data. The first is an automatic procedure for the location of ground control points (GCPs) without the involvement of operator intervention and using a library of 'chips’ of AVHRR data for the GCPs. The second involves the adaptation of a method previously used by Torlegard for Landsat Multi-spectral Scanner (MSS) data to the case of AVHRR data to attempt to achieve sub-pixel accuracy in the rectification; we have achieved an accuracy of 26 per cent of the pixel edge and have every hope that this can be reduced to below 20 per cent in the future.