HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Geo Information Science

Arial Photography and Photogrammetry

By: Mohammed G.
2024-02-15
 1.1What is Photogrammetry (definition)
The name “photogrammetry" is derived from the three
Greek words :
 Photos: means light
 Gramma: means something drawn or written
 Metron: means to measure
This definition, over the years, has been enhanced to include
interpretation as well as measurement with photographs.

 Definition

The art, science, and technology of obtaining reliable

information about physical objects and the environment through
process of recording, measuring, and interpreting photographic
images and patterns of recorded radiant electromagnetic energy
and phenomenon (American Society of Photogrammetry, Slama).
… Definition

There is no universally accepted definition of

photogrammetry. The definition given below captures
the most important notion/ idea of photogrammetry.
Photogrammetry is the science of obtaining
reliable information about the properties of
surfaces and objects without physical contact with
the objects, and of measuring and interpreting
this information.

Photogrammetry is a measurement technology in

which the three dimensional coordinates of
points on an object is determined.
This is achieved by stereoscopy.
B. Photogrammetric Procedures and Instruments

Obviously, the task of photogrammetric procedures is

to convert the input to the desired output.
Let us take an aerial photograph as a typical input and
a map as a typical output.

The various instruments that are used to perform the

tasks are:
A rectifier is kind of a copy machine for making plane
rectifications.

In order to generate orthophotos, an orthophoto

projector is required.
A comparator is a precise measuring instrument which
lets you measure points on a diapositive (photo
coordinates).

In order to measure 3-D positions of points in a stereo

model, a stereo plotting instrument or stereo plotter
is used.

An analytical plotter establishes the transformation

computationally.
 Both types of plotters are mainly used to produce maps,
DEMs and profiles.
 C. Photogrammetric Products
The photogrammetric products fall into three
categories: photographic products, computational
results and maps.

1. Photographic Products
 Photographic products are derivatives of single
photographs or composites of overlapping
photographs.

Enlargements may be quite useful for preliminary

design or planning studies.
A better approximation to a map are rectifications.
 2. Computational Results
 Aerial triangulation is a very successful
application of photogrammetry.

Whereby intersecting lines in space are used to

compute the location of a point in all three dimensions.
 3. Maps
Maps are the most prominent product of
photogrammetry.
They are produced at various scales and degrees of
accuracies.
Planimetric maps contain only the horizontal position
of ground features while

Topographic maps include elevation data, usually in

the form of contour lines and spot elevations.

Thematic maps emphasize one particular feature, e.g.,

transportation network.
 1.2 Early history of photography

In 1859 Gaspard Tournachon took an oblique

photograph of a small village near Paris from a balloon.
 With this picture the era of earth observation and
remote sensing had started.
 During the Civil War in the United States aerial
photography from balloons played an important role to
reveal the defense positions in Virginia (Colwell, 1983).
In the United States this speeded up the development
of photography, lenses and applied airborne use of
this technology.
The next period of fast development took place in
Europe and not in the United States.
It was during World War I that aero planes were used
on a large scale for photoreconnaissance.
Aircraft proved to be more reliable and more stable
platforms for earth observation than balloons.
In the period between World War I and World War II a
start was made with the civilian use of aerial
photos.
Application fields of airborne photos included at that
time
geology,
forestry,
agriculture and cartography.

These developments lead to much improved

cameras, films and interpretation equipment.
The most important developments of aerial
photography and photo interpretation took place
during World War II.

During this time span the development of other

imaging systems such as
near-infrared photography;
thermal sensing and
radar took place.
The first successful airborne imaging radar was
not used for civilian purposes but proved valuable for
nighttime bombing. As such the system was called
by the military ‘plan position indicator’ and was
developed in Great Britain in 1941.

Colour infrared (CIR) photography was found to be

of great use for the plant sciences.

In 1956 Colwell conducted experiments on the use of

CIR for the classification and recognition of
vegetation types and the detection of diseased and
damaged or stressed vegetation.
 1.3 Categories of photogrammetry

Photogrammetry is divided into different categories

according to:
 the types of photographs or
 sensing system used or
 the manner of their use as given below:

(1) On the basis of orientation of camera axis:

(i) Terrestrial or ground photogrammetry :
When the photographs are obtained from the ground
station with camera axis horizontal or nearly
horizontal

(ii) Aerial photogrammetry : If the photographs

are obtained from an airborne vehicle.
(2) On the basis of sensor system used:
Following names are popularly used to indicate type of
sensor system used in recording imagery.

Radargrammetry: Radar sensor

X-ray photogrammetry: X-ray sensor
Infrared or colour photogrammetry: infrared or
colour photographs
(3) On the basis of principle of recreating geometry
When single photographs are used with the
stereoscopic effect, if any, it is called monoscopic
photogrammetry.

If two overlapping photographs are used to generate

three dimensional view to create relief model, it is
called stereophotogrammetry. It is the most popular
and widely used form of photogrammetry.
(4) On the basis of procedure involved for reducing
the data from photographs
Three types of photogrammetry are possible under this
classification:

(a) Instrumental or analogue photogrammetry : It

involves photogrammetric instruments to carry out
tasks.

(b) Semi-analytical or analytical :

 Analytical photogrammetry solves problems by establishing
mathematical relationship between coordinates on photographic
image and real world objects.

 Semi-analytical approach is hybrid approach using instrumental

as well analytical principles.
(c) Digital Photogrammetry or softcopy
photogrammetry
 It uses digital image processing principle and analytical
photogrammetry tools to carry out photogrammetric
operation on digital imagery.

(5) On the basis of platforms on which the sensor is

mounted:
 If the sensing system is spaceborne, it is called
 space photogrammetry,
 satellite photogrammetry or
 extra-terrestrial photogrammetry.
 1.4 Use of photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is used in different fields, such as
Topographic mapping,
Architecture,
Engineering,
Police investigation
Geology
Agriculture
Cadaster
Environmental Studies
Exploration
Military intelligence
Archaeology
Meteorology