Aerial Photography Planning

Er. Sujan Sapkota

sujan.sapkota@ku.edu.np
 Aerial Photography Planning
• Define the project
– Objective
– Time available
– Budget available
– Accuracy needed
– Area to be covered
– Scale
 Aerial Photography Planning
• Key points to be taken into account
– Focal length of camera lens
– Altitude of the flight of aircraft
– Size of the area to be photographed
– Size of the photograph
– Longitudinal overlap
– Lateral/side overlap
– Scale of the map
– Pixel size on image/Ground sampling distance (GSD)
– Ground speed of the aircraft
– Interval between the exposure
– Terrain Topography
– Weather/season
Flying height, focal length and scale
• Relationship of flying height, focal length and
scale of the photo
S = H/f
S = scale factor
H = flying height of the aircraft above ground
f = focal length of the camera
No of photograph to cover the area
• Number of photographs (N) required to cover
a given area
N= A/a
Where,
– N = no of photographs
– A = Total area to be photographed
– a = Net ground area covered by each photograph
 Area covered by a photograph
• Net ground area covered by each photograph
(a)
a=LxW
Where,
– L = Net ground distance (length) covered by a
photo
– W = Net ground distance (width) covered by a
photo
Distance covered along and normal to
the direction of flight
L = (1 - Pl) * l * S
W = (1 - Pw) * w * S
– Pl = overlap percentage in longitudinal direction
(expressed as a ratio)
– Pw = overlap percentage in lateral direction (expressed
as a ratio)
– S = scale factor
– l = length of the photograph in the direction of flight
– w = width of the photograph normal to the direction
of flight
 Area covered by a photograph
• Net Area covered by a photograph is equal to
Net ground distance (length) covered by a
photo times Net ground distance (width)
covered by a photo
i.e. a = L * W
=[(1 - Pl) * S * l] * [(1 - Pw) * S * w]
 No of photographs along the strip
• Number of photograph along flight direction
(N1) is equal to length of flight line divided by
net ground distance (length) covered by a
photograph plus one
N1 = L1/L + 1 = [L1/{(1-Pl)*S*l}] + 1
N2 = L2/W + 1 = [L2/{(1-Pw)*S*w}] + 1
• Thus total no. of photographs required to
cover the area is given by
N = N1 * N2
 Exercise
• If the following are given,
• Nominal scale 1:20,000.
• Size of photographs 23 × 23 cm.
• Overlap along line of flight (endlap) 60%.
• Overlap along adjacent lines of flight (sidelap) 30%.
• Length of area along lines of flight 25 km.
• Width of area across lines of flight 20 km.
• Calculate
• the no. of strip
• No. of photographs required per strip
• Total no. of photographs required to cover the area
 Time interval betweeen exposure
• T = 3600 L/V
• L is net ground distance covered by a
photograph in the direction of flight, (1-Pl)*S*l
• V = Ground speed of airplane (Km/hour)
• T = Time interval between exposure (sec)
 GCP
• Pre pointing
– Established on the ground before photography
– Need to cover the whole project area
– Should be clearly appeared in photographs during
photography
– Better along the periphery of the
photograph/block
– No possibility of error during point transfer
– Accurate
– Costly to establish
 GCP
• Post pointing
– Established after photography
– Can be chosen in photographs
– Difficult to identify on the ground
– Point transfer in image is needed
– Cheaper
 Common types of signals for GCP
• Signalised points
– Signals are established, e.g. Beacon, mirrors
– Highly accurate, but costly
– Used for cadastral application and network strengthening
 Common types of signals for GCP
• Natural points
– Natural objects are used e.g. Sharp image details like river
crossing, road traffic signals, corners, shadow
– Accurate, not much costly but difficult to identify

• Artificially marked points

– Points marked artificially on
the ground
 Distribution pattern of GCP
• Minimum number of GCP required for
orientation is 3
• But the errors in orientation can not be found
• For checking the accuracy, at least one more
GCP is needed
• For more stable and controlled network, more
GCPs are required
 Ideal distribution of GCP
• Along the periphery

• To cover the entire project area

• Horizontal and vertical control points

Ideal distribution of GCP in a block
 Tie points
• To establish GCPs in every photo is very difficult and
not feasible (costly)
• But in a large block, we need control points in each
photographs to tie them with each other
• Such points, which are used to tie the adjacent
photographs with each other are called tie points
• These points can be established in the photographs
• Coordinates of the tie points can be calculated during
aerial triangulation
Tie points
Distribution of tie points in a block
Distribution of GCP and tie points
Distribution of GCP and tie points
 Further Reading
• Things To Know About Ground Control in
Drone Surveying
• Designing Flight Route
• Flight Planning for Aerial Photography
• FLIGHT PLANNING, IMAGERY ACQUISTION,
AND GROUND CONTROL
• …