Digital Photogrammetry

The Future of Spatial Data Collection

PHOTOGRAMMETRY HAS BEEN

TRADITIONALLY defined as the process of
deriving metric information about an object through
photo measurements. A closely related area is
photo interpretation, which mainly deals with
photographs through human visual analysis. The
term "remote sensing" was introduced due to the
use of imagery in a wider electromagnetic
spectrum as well as the employment of computer
analysis techniques.

With the advent of computing and imaging technology, photogrammetry has

evolved from analogue to analytical to digital (softcopy) photogrammetry. The
term "softcopy photogrammetry" is widely used in the United States for
historic reasons, although "digital photogrammetry" is preferred in the
international community. The main difference between digital photogrammetry
and its predecessors--analogue and analytical--is that it deals with digital
imagery directly rather than (analogue) photographs. However, the
mathematics of data processing models (e.g., orientation, triangulation, etc.)
used in digital photogrammetry has been well established.

Imagery Evolution

The fundamental goal of photogrammetry is to rigorously establish the

geometric relationship between an object and an image and derive
information about the object strictly from the image. In analogue
photogrammetry, optical and mechanical instruments (plotters) are used to
establish geometric relationships. In analytical photogrammetry, the geometric
modelling is mathematical. Both deal with analogue photographs using
expensive photogrammetric plotters. Figure 1 shows an analytical plotter from
Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping Division (formerly LH Systems). In digital
photogrammetry, imagery of all types, including passive (e.g., optical sensing)
or active (e.g., radar imaging), and taken from any platform (e.g., airborne,
satellite, close range, etc.) can be processed. Thanks to digital computing
technology, the entire photogrammetric production
process is digital, and many components have been
automated.

Figure 1. The SD3000 from Leica Geosystems is an

example of an analytical plotter.

Photogrammetry has been used for a variety of

applications, ranging from engineering design to natural
resource and environmental inventory to hydrographic survey to
archaeological mapping. Most topographic maps available today were created
using photogrammetry, which is considered the primary approach to GIS base
data collection and updating.

Project Requirements

In general, a photogrammetric project involves two stages: 1) acquisition of

imagery and its support data (e.g., ground-control information) and 2)
processing the imagery to derive image and vector products. The first stage
involves several operations such as project design, mission planning, image
acquisition, ground control and quality assurance. The second stage involves
the use of a digital photogrammetric workstation (DPW) for processing. In the
following sections, the processing workflow for the second stage will be
addressed, because it's of interest to most GIS practitioners.

A DPW combines computer hardware and software to allow photogrammetric

operations to be carried out on digital image data. A list of major commercial
DPWs are provided in the accompanying tables on page 36. Typically, a DPW
consists of a graphics workstation with, in most but not all cases, a stereo
viewing device and a 3-D mouse. For modern DPWs, there's no specific
requirement for the host computer. Often a DPW can be built on a high-end
desktop PC with at least 256RAM, one or two 19- or 21-inch monitors and a
high-performance graphics card.

There are many ways to provide stereo viewing, including a split screen with a
simple stereoscope, anaglyph (red/green display), polarization and
"CrystalEyes" methods. The choice of device largely depends on operational
requirements and cost factors. It also has been realized that many operations
in digital photogrammetry don't require stereo viewing, except for 3-D
coordinate measurement. Therefore, some DPWs don't provide the stereo
viewing devices or make them operational. To maximize mapping efficiency,
accuracy and operator comfort, many 3-D control devices have been used,
including free-moving hand controllers, hand wheels and foot disks. Two
types, the free-hand controller and 3-D mouse, are popular in DPWs.

Figure 2. SOCET SET (left) from Leica

Geosystems can import several data formats.
The ImageStation 2002 (right) from Z/I Imaging
 can use a variety of control devices, depending
on user requirements.

Most DPWs are based on Microsoft Windows NT or 2000, although most

were operated under Unix a few years ago. Surprisingly, photogrammetry has
made a fast transition from Unix or other operating systems to Windows. All
the vendor products in the accompanying table support Windows NT or 2000.

Digital Photogrammetry Workflow

Figure 3 shows a typical workflow in digital photogrammetry. The primary

products are digital elevation models (DEMs), ortho-rectified images (or ortho-
images) and extracted features (vectors). The secondary products derived
from primary products include contour maps (derived from DEMs), image
contour maps (ortho-images with contour overlays), image line maps (ortho-
images with vector overlays) and 3-D scene models (DEMs with draped
images and 3-D features).

Image Scanning

Image scanners often are part of the digital photogrammetry environment.

Geometric quality and scanning resolution are two major concerns. Typically,
10-20 µm pixel-scanning resolution is required for mapping purposes. Many
vendors provide photogrammetric-grade scanners, but they're expensive.
Some studies show that the medium- and low-cost desktop scanners could
produce reasonable results in terms of geometric quality if appropriately
calibrated.

Digital Image Acquisition

The cost of digital imaging sensors decreased dramatically in recent years

due to increased market penetration and user acceptability. Many new
imaging sensors (e.g., satellite sensors, airborne digital cameras, etc.) have
been invented. Airborne digital camera systems are being used in large
operational projects and are expected to grow rapidly in the next five years.
Commercial remote-sensing systems such as Space Imaging's IKONOS and
Digital Globe’s Quick Bird satellites further boost the market of image
acquisition. Due to high orbital repeatability, stereo and Multispectral
capability, and stable and affordable data acquisition costs, digital satellite
imagery will have a significant effect on digital photogrammetry.

Orientation and Triangulation

Orientation and triangulation are fundamental photogrammetry operations.

Orientation is used to recover the geometric relationship between an object
and the image captured. Interior, relative and absolute orientations are some
basic modules used to derive 3-D coordinate information of objects from
imagery. Automation in interior (inner) and relative orientation is implemented
in most DPWs (see the table). Triangulation or "called-block adjustment" is
used to determine the orientations of all images simultaneously, yielding more
accurate and consistent results across the entire mapping area.

Without triangulation, every stereo model would need to be oriented for 3-D
coordinate measurements. Triangulation is considered the most important
economic factor in photogrammetric mapping. Many DPWs support highly
automated triangulation with internally developed modules or third-party
solutions such as MATCH-AT developed by INPHO Gmbh.

DEM Generation

One of the most fundamental processes in photogrammetry is to identify and

measure corresponding points in two or more overlapped photographs or
images. In DPWs, users can attempt to do it automatically--a process called
image matching that has been one of hottest research topics in the last 10
years. After finding corresponding points by image matching, a DEM can be
generated automatically.