Week 5

Monday
Measurement of Direction: Bearing vs. Azimuth
Bearing
• Is an angle of 90o or less
• Measured from either North or South in easterly & westerly directions.
• North 22o West, South 89o West, North 53o East, South 45o East

Azimuth
• Angles from 0-360o that are always measured clockwise from NORTH

BEARINGS AZIMUTHS
Measurement of Direction

Say you wish to find your way to a field plot that you located on an aerial
photo.

However, because of the absence of photo-specific detail on the map…

It’s not possible to pinpoint the field plot’s location on the map.

What to do…

1) Need to establish a “distance-bearing line” from some reference point (that is

visible on both the photo and the map) to field plot’s location on the photo.

2) Then, to get the bearing to the field plot, establish a baseline on the photo for
which azimuth or bearing are easily determined (e.g., east-west road etc.).

3) Then, the direction of your “distance-bearing line” is found by measuring the

angle between it and the known baseline.
Measurement of Direction
Road Intersection “reference point”
visible on both photo & map
Point of Interest
3
1
1) Determine the road’s bearing from the map.
2) Orient a compass at same angle with center at
the road intersection.
3) Read the final bearing to your Point of Interest
Measurement of Direction

Is this photo tilted?

Any topographic variation?

Can you rely on photo-measured

bearings or azimuths?
Measurement of Direction: Cautions
Photo TILT has an effect on bearings measured on photos similar to the effect on photo scale

In the past:
• Photo rectification could fix direction & distortion problems associate with tilt
• Way too expensive for a whole mission  almost never done.
• Because tilt displacement radiates form isocenter (typically close to PP), bearings that passing
through (or near) PP are affected little by tilt.

More Recently:
• If one has the camera calibration coefficient file (f, H, photo format, fiducial marks, GPS ephemeris,
etc.) much of the process can be automated…
• ERDAS (OrthoBase) All
• ERMAPPER very
• OrthoMapper (Dr. Frank Scarpace, UW-Madison) similar

• Photo missions increasingly use large-format digital cameras.

• All photogrammetry laws and procedures still apply
• However, it is now relatively easy to geo-rectify the resulting images
to remove distortion
• 1st to 2nd order polynomial regression  tip, tilt, yaw
• 3rd order polynomial regressions  Earth curvature & lens distortion
• Orthorectification (terrain correction) using DEM
 Measurement of Direction
Measurement of direction on aerial photos is the same as measurement of direction on maps. However…..
- Points above Nadir elev. are displaced away from nadir
Correction  inward adjustment
- Points below Nadir elev. are displaced toward nadir Plane Alt. = 6000’ MSL
E = NadirElev = 1000’
Correction  outward adjustment f or CFL = 6”

H = 5000’  (6000’-1000’)
A—B = Photo Baseline
hA = – 560’  (440’ – 1000’)

hB = + 450’  (1450’ – 1000’)

rA = 3.81” 𝒓𝒉
𝒅=
rB = 2.60” 𝑯

3.81" ∗(−560′)
𝒅𝑨 = = −0.43“
5000′

Correction = 0.43” farther from nadir (𝑨′ )

Bearing A-B (meas. in field) = N 78o E 2.60" ∗(450′)

𝒅𝑩 = = +0.23“
Bearing A-B (meas. on photo) = N 87o E 5000′

Correction = 0.23” closer to nadir (𝑩′ )

∆ Bearing = 9o
Measurement of Direction: Final Notes

Errors in photo-measured bearings caused by terrain displacement are…

…Non-existent (i.e. photo bearing = ground bearing) under these cases:

1) If “bearing line” passes through NADIR  displacement is radial to point if

interest.

2) if Nadir & both ends of the “bearing line” are at same elevation

3) If both ends of a “bearing line” are at same elevation…and are same distance
from Nadir, but ELEVbearing line ≠ ELEVNadir

Think of these when establishing your photo base-lines

To avoid having to correct bearing measurements
Parallax Measurement
So far, we have discussed single-photo displacement for height calculation…
• Handy in many cases, but can’t be used to calculate topographic elevation differences
• Doesn’t take advantage of Vertical Exaggeration (VE)

For your eyes, the farther they are apart (exposure distance), the better you perceive depth.

VE is the same deal…the farther photo exposure stations are apart….

…the more vertical detail is exaggerated compared to horizontal scale (PSR)

80 %
Example:
Here, each photo is 80% overlapped on the next
• Exposure stations close together
• VE ≈ 2 time horizontal scale

Every other photo (green) has 60% overlap

• Exposure stations farther apart
• VE ≈ 4 times horizontal scale

60 %
Vertical Exaggeration (VE)
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝑏𝑡𝑤𝑛 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠
VE with the ratio of… 𝑓𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

AVD = is estimated at ~17”

AB = Air Base distance (photo centers)
𝐴𝐵 𝐴𝑉𝐷 IPD for average adult = 2.6”
VE = ∗ H = height above ground
𝐻 𝐸𝐵 EB = Eye Base or dist. between you eyes
2.6”/17”  ratio of 0.15
AVD = apparent stereo view dist. (~17”)
EB = 0.15 * 12” = 1.8”/foot

𝐴𝐵 𝐴𝑉𝐷
Example: VE = ∗
𝐻 𝐸𝐵

• FMT = 9” photos (in flight direction) 1 − %𝐸 ∗ 𝐹𝑀𝑇" ∗ 𝑃𝑆𝑅 1′ 1

• %E = 55% endlap 𝑉𝐸 = ∗ ∗
𝐻 12" 0.15
• CFL = 12” (1 ft.)
• H = 20,000 ft. 0.45 ∗ 9" ∗ 20000
• EB = eye base of 1.8” 𝑉𝐸 = = 𝟐. 𝟐𝟓
20,000 ∗ 1.8"

VE  is 2.25 time greater than horizontal photo distances

Height determination by parallax solves these problems!!

Height by Parallax Difference Measurement

Most useful photo-based method for measuring heights, but requires…

• A stereo-pair of aerial photos
• Interpreter must have good depth perception
• Vertical photos
• Tilt = height errors, but if tilt is < 3o …not too bad

Forms of the height equation

• Mountainous terrain equation
• valid for mountainous & level terrain

• Level terrain equation

• Elevation of the object’s base must = average(PP1elev & PP2elev)

• Short-cut equation
• Can approximate mountainous or level terrain.
• Never completely appropriate
• Is the implest of the height equations
• Can be used with previously prepared tables
Height by Parallax Difference Measurement
Similar Triangles…ABC & ADE
ℎ 𝑑𝑃
Hence, =
𝐻−ℎ 𝑃

𝑃 ℎ = 𝑑𝑝𝑃 𝐻 − ℎ
𝑃 ℎ = 𝑑𝑃 𝐻 − 𝑑𝑃 ℎ
𝑃 ℎ + 𝑑𝑃 ℎ = 𝑑𝑃 𝐻
ℎ 𝑃 + 𝑑𝑃 = 𝑑𝑃 𝐻

𝐻(𝑑𝑃)
ℎ=
𝑃 + 𝑑𝑃

H = Fly Height AG …f(PSR)

P = |parallax of PP1 & PP2|
Pleft = |PPright - CPPright|
Pright = |PPleft - CPPleft|

Because the plane may bounce around

between exposure stations, Pleft ≠ Pright
So, we use the average  P
Height by Parallax Difference Measurement
Absolute Parallax of point 𝒂 and of the baseline, 𝑥 or 𝑥’ Flight Direction (x)

+ −

+ −
• Absolute parallax of object "𝒂" is: 𝑥𝑎 − −𝑥 ′ 𝑎 , or 𝑥𝑎 + 𝑥′𝑎
• Absolute parallax of the baseline is: (𝑥𝑏 + 𝑥 ′ 𝑏 )/2
• If "𝒂" is at same elevation as baseline, then: 𝑥𝑎 + 𝑥′𝑎 − (𝑥𝑏 + 𝑥 ′ 𝑏 )/2 = 𝑑𝑃 = 0

• To have a difference in absolute parallax we need different elevations  Top & Bottom of a Tree!

• The absolute parallax (P) of a tree then is the… Ptop – Pbottom

 Height by Parallax Difference Measurement
• On the left photo, 𝑥 coordinate of the TOP OF TREE is +(𝑥𝑡 ) and BOTTOM OF TREE is + 𝑥𝑏

• On the right photo, 𝑥 coordinate of the TOP OF TREE is −(𝑥′𝑡 ) and BOTTOM OF TREE is −(𝑥′𝑏 )

• With PPs & CPPs perfectly aligned, absolute parallax of TREE TOP = 𝒙𝒕 − −𝒙′ 𝒕  𝒙𝒕 + 𝒙′𝒕
• The absolute parallax of TREE BOTTOM = 𝒙𝒃 + 𝒙′𝒃

• Difference in absolute parallax, 𝒅𝑷, between TREE TOP & BOTTOM… 𝒅𝑷 = 𝑥𝑡 + 𝑥′𝑡 − (𝑥𝑏 + 𝑥′𝑏 )

• 𝒅𝑷 = 𝑥𝑡 − 𝑥𝑏 + 𝑥 ′ 𝑡 − 𝑥 ′ 𝑏 = 𝒅−𝒄 = 𝒅𝑷𝟏 + 𝒅𝑷𝟐

• How 𝒅𝑷 is actually measured on a stereo pair… 𝒅 − 𝒄

𝒅𝑷" ∗ 𝑯′
• Height of object then… 𝒉=  Level Terrain Equation
𝑷" + 𝒅𝑷"
Devices to Measure 𝒅𝑷 on a Stereo Photo Pair
 Engineer’s scale
• If careful can do pretty well
• Nearest 0.01”

 Stereoplotter
Most accurate and most expensive.

 Parallax Bar

• Align photo so PPs and CPP are in line, with separation similar to the P-Bar
• Two measurements: top_top & bottom_bottom (FLOATING DOT)
• Not actually reading distance between the images – its an arbitrary reading
• The difference (top_top) — (bot_bot) is the true 𝒅𝑷

 Parallax Wedge

• Whole series of parallax bars set at fixed 𝑑𝑃s

• Used in stereo vision (FLOATING DOT)
Height by Parallax: Mountainous Terrain Equation
𝐻 𝑑𝑃 𝐻 𝑑𝑃 𝑃 ±∆𝐸
ℎ = = …Where 𝑃𝑏 must = 𝑃 +
𝑃𝑏 + 𝑑𝑃 𝑃 ± ∆𝐸 𝐻
𝑃+ + 𝑑𝑃
𝐻

Why two equations?

One may be more applicable than the other
depending on the info you have at hand.

𝒉 = height of the object being measured

𝑯 = flying height above the “base of the object”
𝒅𝑷 = difference in absolute parallax between the top & bottom of the object
𝑷 = average absolute parallax of the two ends of the baseline
(measured as the average distance between PP and CPP in the stereo pair)
𝑷𝒃 = absolute parallax at the base of the object
(distance between the PPs of the two photos minus the distance between the
images of the base of the object on the 2 photos when properly aligned for
measurement of dP)
±∆𝑬 = difference in elevation  𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒗. @ 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 − [𝟎. 𝟓 𝑷𝑷𝟏 + 𝑷𝑷𝟐 ]
(+ if higher and − if lower)
Height by Parallax: Level-Terrain Equation

Mountainous Terrain

Level Terrain Only valid when ∆𝐸 = 0

However, when terrain not perfectly flat…Level Terrain Equation can be used if…
1
𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡_𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 − (𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑃𝑃2 + 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑃𝑃1 ) ∗ 2 < 𝐻 ∗ 0.05
Height by Parallax: Short-Cut Equation
DFP

• Neither is totally valid  ignores 𝒅𝑷

in denominator

• Error in height estimates are small if

𝒅𝑷 is a small proportion of 𝑷 𝑜𝑟 𝑷𝒃

Substituting 𝑓 𝑃𝑆𝑅 for 𝐻 …

𝑓 𝑃𝑆𝑅 𝑑𝑃
ℎ=
𝑃𝑏
Short-Cut EQ: Differential Parallax Factor (DPF) Tables

DFP Substituting 𝑓 𝑃𝑆𝑅 for 𝐻 …

𝑓 𝑃𝑆𝑅 𝑑𝑃
ℎ=
𝑃𝑏

Substituting 𝐷𝑃𝐹 for 𝑓/𝑃𝑏

(DPF is constant for a stereo pair)

ℎ = (𝐷𝑃𝐹)(𝑃𝑆𝑅)(𝑑𝑃)
Parallax Cautions

Things to consider when using parallax to measure heights

𝑟ℎ
• High points are displaced radially outward in the amount: 𝑑 =
𝐻

• On vertical photos, Nadir & PP are same point

• Apparent depth exaggeration in stereo stretches objects vertically

21:2 to 31:2 times normal

• There are two parallaxes: X and Y parallax…

• Y-parallax will introduce large ℎ errors
• Avoid Y-parallax by carefully aligning photos
• PP CPP CPP PP
Example Parallax Problem
Flying height is 13750 ft. above datum
Average photo base is 3.17 in.

If distance from base-to-base is 4 in. and from tip-to-tip is 3.98 in.

How tall is the object?

𝐻 = 13750′
𝑑𝑃 = 4.00−3.98 = 0.02“
𝑃 = 3.17“

13750′ ∗ 0.02"
𝐻= = 86.2 𝑓𝑡.
3.17" + 0.02"

𝒅𝑷 = difference in absolute parallax between the top & bottom of the object
𝑷 = average absolute parallax of the two ends of the baseline