Scale and Height Measurement

on Single Vertical Aerial Photographs

• The scale of an aerial photograph may be expressed as a verbal
scale or as a representative fraction (dimensionless).

• Several methods are available for computing the scale of aerial

photographs obtained over level or variable relief terrain
 Scale of a Vertical Aerial Photograph over Level Terrain

• There are two main methods of determining the scale of

single aerial photographs obtained over level terrain.
• One involves comparing the size of objects measured in the real
world or from a map (e.g., the length of a section of road) with
the same object measured on the aerial photograph.
• The second method involves computing the relationship
between camera lens focal length and the altitude of the aircraft
above ground level.
 Computing Scale by Comparing Real-World
Object Size versus Photographic Image Size

• The scale, s, of a vertical aerial photograph obtained over nearly

level terrain is the ratio of the size of the object mea- sured on
the aerial photograph, ab, compared to the actual length of the
object in the real world, AB:
• This relationship is based on the
geometry of similar triangles Lab
and LAB in Figures.
• To compute scale using Equation
1, the image analyst first
identifies an object in the vertical
aerial photograph whose length
(AB) was measured on the
ground or, more commonly, was
measured from a reference map.
• The analyst then measures the
corresponding distance on the
photograph (ab) and solves for s.
• In this example, we will first determine the scale of the photograph using the road
shown in photography.
• The road width from curb to curb was 56.1 ft (AB) as measured in the field using a
surveyor’s tape. The width of the same road was 0.113 in. (ab) on the vertical
aerial photograph. Using Equation 1, the scale of the photograph is:

• When computing scale, the goal is to modify the

input values so that the numerator has a value
of one and both the numerator and denominator are
in the same units, e.g., inches, feet, or meters. Sometimes
this requires multiplying both the numerator and
denominator by the reciprocal of the numerator.
Problem: 1
Find the scale of the aerial photograph where the width of a
nearby sidewalk was measured. The sidewalk was 6ft in the real
world and 0.012 in. on the aerial photograph.

Problem: 2
what is the scale of a vertical aerial photograph on which the
distance between Pole A and Pole B equals 0.5 in? The actual
distance from Pole A and Pole B is 90 ft.
 Computing Scale by Relating Focal Length to
Altitude Above Ground Level (AGL)
• Scale may also be expressed in terms of
camera focal length, f, and flying height
above the ground, H, by equating the
geometrically similar triangles Loa and
LPA in Figure.

• From Equation, it is evident that the scale

of a vertical aerial photograph is directly
proportional to camera focal length
(image distance) and inversely
proportional to flying height above ground
level (object distance).
• For example, a vertical aerial photograph is obtained over flat
terrain with a 12-in. focal-length camera lens from an altitude of
60,000 ft AGL.
 Scale of a Vertical Aerial
Photograph over Variable Terrain

• The scale of the aerial photograph at location ab

in the positive print is equal to the ratio of the
photo distance ab to ground distance AB.
• By similar triangles Lab and LAB, the photo scale
at location ab in the vertical aerial photograph
may be computed using several relationships,
including:
• In example in Figure 9, different scale values
would be computed at locations c and d in the
aerial photograph.
• One scale value would be a function of the
minimum elevation above sea level within the
photograph (smin) while the other would be a
function of the maximum elevation above sea
level within the photograph (smax):

Usually an average or nominal scale is computed to define the

overall scale of a vertical aerial photograph taken over variable
terrain: