Aerial Photography and

Photogrammetry
Interpretation and Measurement
 Aerial Photographs
• Photographs taken from a platform,
usually an airplane, flying above the
earth’s surface.
• Can be taken from space (by astronauts)
but usually taken from within the
atmosphere
 Types of aerial photos
• Vertical air photos
• Vertical (on nadir) or nearly vertical angle to the
local ground surface (90° ± 3°)
• Oblique air photos
• Tilted away from vertical
– High-oblique
• Shows the surface, the horizon, and a portion of
sky
– Low-oblique
• Shows only the surface
 Information on air photos
• Date
• Mission details
• Roll + film number
• Altitude (not always)
• Fiducial marks
pp
 Analog vs. Digital
• Analog: Film
– Emulsions react with light
– B&W, Color, Color infrared
– Prints, negatives

• Digital: Electronic storing device

– Calibrated sensors
– Digital values
 Film vs. Digital
• Film uses grains of silver chloride
embedded in gel rather than pixels.
– Silver chloride turns to silver (opaque) when
exposed to light. Creates a negative.
– Must pass light through negative to create a
positive (print).
• Typical B&W film sensitive to UV through
red wavelengths (panchromatic)
• Some films sensitive to infrared (IR film)
 Characteristic Curve
• Film records radiance as tone – the more
light (radiance) that hits the film, the more
grains of silver chloride are converted to
silver
• The relationship between radiance and
tone is captured in the characteristic curve
of the film.
The Characteristic Curve

Image courtesy Sprawls Educational

Foundation www.sprawls.org.
 Products
• Film-based cameras
• Type
– B&W, color, color infrared, panchromatic
• Format
– 9 x 9, 9 x 18, …
• Media
– Negative, positive (transparent or opaque)
prints
photo type
 Photo Geometry
• Because airplanes are subject to
turbulence, photo geometry can be less
predictable than for satellite data
Flight characteristics that affect air
photo geometry

• Flight line orientation (overlap, etc.)

• Airplane movement caused by turbulence
• Height, air speed, etc.
Flight Paths
 Flight paths

5 4 3 2 1

6 7 8 9 10

Side overlap Fore and aft overlap

Types of Distortion Caused by
Aircraft
• Roll
• Pitch
• Yaw
Distortion caused by roll, pitch and
yaw
 Photointerpretation
• Identifying features on the ground by using
information depicted in air photos or satellite
data
– Shape
– Size
– Pattern
– Shadow
– Tone, color (or gray shade)
– Texture
– Context (Association)
Shape
Size
Pattern
Shadow
Color
Texture
Association or Context
 Photointerpretation
• Keys can be used to standardize interp.
• Photointerpretation is both a science and
an art
 Photogrammetry
• Technique of obtaining reliable
measurements of objects from their
photographic images
– Heights of objects
– Areas
– Lengths
– Density
– Etc.
 Photographic scale
• Relationship between the linear distance
on a vertical photograph and the
corresponding actual distance on the
ground
• Scale is expressed as ‘representative
fraction (RF)’ between linear
measurements on photo (the numerator)
and corresponding distance on the ground
(the denominator)
Photo scale –> ground distance
• Example
• 1/24,000 or 1:24,000
• 1 unit on photo = 24,000 units on ground
• 1 cm = 24,000 cm
• 1 mm = 24,000 mm
• 1 inch = 24,000 inches
• 1 inch = 24,000 in / 12 in/ft = 2,000 ft
 Scale
• Scale is the ratio of the measured length
of an object on an image to its real length
on the ground
– Always expressed as a ratio (e.g. 1:24,000)
• Small scale photo covers large area on ground
• Small scale photo has less detail
• Large scale photo cover small area on ground
• Large scale photo has considerable detail
 Scale: Photo-Ground distance
• Scale (RF) when given a photo measurement
(PD) and the corresponding ground
measurement (GD)

1
RF 
GD PD
 Scale: Photo-Ground distance
• Distance between two points
– On the ground = 1200 m
– In the photo = 5 cm

1
RF 
1200m 0.05m
1
  1 : 24,000
24000
 Important facts
• Scale is not uniform within a photo
– Pitch, roll, yaw
– Terrain
– Used for vertical airphotos only

• Average or Nominal scale

 Photogrammetry Summary
• You can calculate many characteristics of
ground properties (e.g., building heights,
shrub density) from aerial photographs if
you know the scale and can use simple
geometry and logic.