King AbdulAziz University

Faculty of Environmental Design

Geomatics Department

Introduction to Geomatics
GEOM 101
Week 8

Introduction to Photogrammetry

Ahmad Baik, Ph.D.

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Email: [email protected]
 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Summary

I. What is Photogrammetry

II. Principles of Human Vision

III. Branches of Photogrammetry

IV. Principles of Photogrammetry

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
What is Photogrammetry
Etymology
Etymologically, the term photogrammetry is composed of three
Greek roots : ‘Photo’, ‘Gram’ and ‘Metry’.

* Photos: which means ‘Light’.

* Graphein : which means ‘Write’ (or ‘Draw’)
* Metron : which means ‘Measure’

Hence, we can deduce the etymological meaning as ‘the science of

measuring from photographs ’

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
What is Photogrammetry
ASPRS Definition
The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
(ASPRS) defines photogrammetry as ‘the science, art and
techniques of obtaining reliable information about physical
objects and the environment. This is done through a process of
recording, measuring, and interpreting aerial and terrestrial
photographs ’.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
What is Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry Workflow
A standard workflow of Photogrammetry contains three main
phases which are: 1) Data Acquisition, 2) Photogrammetric
Procedures and 3) Photogrammetric Products.

Photogrammetric Photogrammetric
Data Acquisition
Procedures Products

Rectification Orthophotos
Film Camera
Restitution Topographic Maps

Aero- Digital Elevation

Digital Camera Triangulation Model

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Human Vision
The principles of Photogrammetry come from the understanding
of how Human eyes work. In fact, the lens of the eyes act like a
convex lens that produces an image of the object on the retina.
The produced image, which has an inversed orientation, is then
transmitted to the brain through the optic nerve in order to be
interpreted.

Eye
Retina
Object

Eye’s Lens

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Human Vision
Monoscopy
The monoscopy is the process of vision that involves only a single
eye. Although the image formed on the retina contains a huge
amount of information, the monoscopy provides only a two
dimensional representation of the scene (the perception doesn’t
contain any information about the depth of the scene).
Left Eye

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Human Vision
Stereoscopy
The Stereoscopy is the process of vision that involves the two eyes
at the same time. The Stereoscopy allows perceiving the third
dimension of the scene, through the brain interpretation of the two
images that are formed on the left and right retinas.
Left Eye Right Eye

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Human Vision
Parallactic Angle
The Human brain does not make any ‘graphical’ report of the
rays that come from the scene. It analyses the angle between the
two light beams (that come from one object) which are perceived by
each eye. This angle is called ‘Parallactic Angle’.
Left Eye Right Eye
A point which is closer to the
human eyes has a large
parallactic angle, and point
which is farther has a smaller
parallactic angle.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
There are many methods used in photogrammetry in order to
extract information from photos. However, Photogrammetry may be
divided into two main groups: 1) Aerial Photogrammetry and 2)
Close range (or Terrestrial) Photogrammetry.

In addition, Aerial Photogrammetry may also be classified into

three categories:

1- Analog Photogrammetry,
2- Analytical Photogrammetry,
3- Digital Photogrammetry,

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry

The development of
branches of
Photogrammetry
depends on the
advancement and
innovation related t0
the used technologies
(photography,
airplanes, computers
and electronics).

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Analog Photogrammetry
Analog Photogrammetry is the branch of Photogrammetry that
includes all methods and techniques to extract information from
analog photos based on mechanical and optical methods or their
combination.

The Principle of Analog Photogrammetry is to produce in the

laboratory, and on a smaller scale, the configuration of the
camera when taking pictures in two positions. This
configuration is reconstructed by using optical and mechanical
instruments.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Analog Photogrammetry
Example of an analog instrument for Photogrammetry

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Analytical Photogrammetry
Analytical Photogrammetry is also based on the reconstruction of
camera’s positions during the flight mission. However, the
reconstruction is not performed mechanically.

Although the used photos are analog, the principle of Analytical

Photogrammetry is to reconstruct mathematically the
configuration of cameras during the flight using computers.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Analytical Photogrammetry
Example of an analytical instrument for Photogrammetry

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Digital Photogrammetry
Digital Photogrammetry uses the same mathematical principles
as Analytical Photogrammetry. However, Digital
Photogrammetry (in contrast to Analytical Photogrammetry) uses
Digital Photos.

Digital Photos may come either

from scanning existing Analog
Photos, or directly acquired from
Digital camera (see picture below).

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Digital Photogrammetry
Example of an Digital
Leica Photogrammetric High
instrument for Photogrammetry
Resolution Scanner

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Branches of Photogrammetry
Close –range (Terrestrial)
Photogrammetry

Close-range (or Terrestrial)

Photogrammetry uses the same
theoretical basis as Aerial
Photogrammetry. In the case,
the photos are taken from a very-
close distance from the object
to be photographed.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Characteristics aerial photography
Marginal data of aerial photography
Fiducial marks: small registration
marks exposed on the edges of a
photograph. The distances between
fiducial marks are precisely
measured when a camera is
calibrated.
Roll and Photo Numbers: each
aerial photo is assigned a unique
index number according to the
photo's roll and frame.
Geographic location, time and
date, etc.
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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Characteristics aerial photography
Focal and Scale
Focal length: the distance from the
middle of the camera lens to the
focal plane (i.e. the film). The
focal length is precisely
measured when the camera is
calibrated.

Scale: the ratio of the distance

between two points on a photo to
the actual distance between the
same two points on the ground.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Characteristics aerial photography
Distortion on aerial photography
The projection of a photography is a perspective (or central)
projection, because all the rays should pass through a point called
the center of perspective. This type of projection causes an
important distortions especially for taller object on the scene.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic coverage

The concept of Stereoscopy in

photogrammetry is one of the
most important notions. It uses
the same principle of human
vision in order to extract the
elevation of an object in a scene. To
retrieve the elevation from a scene it Overlap Region
has to be necessary
photographed from to different
perspectives (Overlap region).

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic coverage

Overlap: is the amount by which

one photograph includes the
area covered by another
photograph, and is expressed as a
percentage. The photo survey is
designed to acquire 60 per cent
forward overlap (between
photos along the same flight
line) and 30 per cent lateral
overlap (between photos on
adjacent flight lines).
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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
The Stereoscopic restitution consists of reconstructing a
stereoscopic model (which will be seen by the operator) from two
images that were taken from different angles. To do so, each eye
has to see only the corresponding image (left or right), and the
human brain will automatically perceive the three-dimension.
Left Eye Right Eye

Left Image Right Image

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
There many methods used to display the corresponding image for
each eye. The most used methods are: 1) Optical Stereoscope, 2)
Anaglyph (with complementary colors) and 3) Polarization
(polarized filters).
Example of Optical Stereoscope

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
Example of Anaglyph

To display the two images, we use a

special glass with two
complementary colors (cyan and
Red for example). Hence, each
eye will see only one of the two
images.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
Example of Polarization

To display the two images, we use a

special glass with two different
polarization (Horizontal and
Vertical for example). Hence,
each eye will see only one of the
two images.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
In order to construct a Stereo Model, it is necessary to reconfigure
the position of the two images as their initial positions during
the flight mission.

The process of Stereoscopic restitution consists of three main

phases:
1- Interior orientation
2- Relative orientation
3- Absolute orientation

Sometimes, relative and absolute orientation may be combined in

one step called Exterior orientation.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
Interior Orientation

The aim of Interior orientation is to define a Photo coordinate

system for each Photography. This is very important in order to
reconstruct the Perspective Projection of each image. To do so, we
use the fiducial marks for each photography.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
Relative Orientation
The aim of Relative orientation is to the relative position of two
photographs, or a relation to another. To do so, an image is fixed
and we ‘drag and rotate’ the other until finding the relative position
as the flight mission. "Drag and rotate" means to move the image
around the axis ω (Omega), φ (Phi) and K (Kappa),
corresponding to X, Y and Z.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry
Principles of Photogrammetry
Stereoscopic restitution
Absolute Orientation
The Absolute orientation aims
to bring the relative stereo-
model constructed in the
previous phase to the ground
Scale, Orientation and Level.
When we complete this phase,
the measurement on the
stereo-model will be the same
as if we were on the real field.

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 Lecture 5: Introduction to
Photogrammetry

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 Introduction to Geomatics
GEOM 101
Week 9

Introduction to GPS
Reda Yaagoubi, Ph.D.
Email: [email protected]

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