Apero, an Open Source Bundle Adjusment Software for Automatic Calibration and Orientation of Set of Images

High resolution elevation data is a fundamental information for multiple applications in geomorphology spanning from visual analyses to modeling. Nowadays, gathering of high-quality elevation data relies on multiple sensors and technologies which can be mounted on terrestrial, aerial and satellite platforms. In the last years, the Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms have made possible the acquisition of high and very-high resolution elevation data from optical images acquired with high overlapping rates at virtually no cost. Such a feature made it possible to exploit remote sensing archival imagery to build historical topographic information with unprecedented detail. However, despite the increasing number of applications of SfM algorithms in the scientific literature, still little has been done in terms optimization and quality evaluation of the results. We have applied the SfM algorithm developed in the photogrammetric open source software MicMac to six black and white aerial photographs taken in 1954 at 1:33.000 in a mountainous and steep area in Central Italy. The aim of the experiment consists in a quantitative evaluation of the digital surface models obtained for different scanning settings.

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“…The bundle block adjustment (BBA) is performed in the fifth step by the MicMac command Tapas, an interface to the more complex tool Apero [15].…”

Section: Procedures To Obtain the Photogrammetric Dsmmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Resolution Historical Topography: Getting More from Archival Aerial Photographs

Seccaroni

Santangelo

Marchesini

et al. 2018

The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Remote Sensing

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“…Despite the presence of many open source solutions [16,17], commercial solutions remain very popular among users [18,19], especially outside the photogrammetric community. This is mainly due to the fact that commercial solutions tend to provide fairly accurate results with simpler and more streamlined user interfaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Source and Independent Methods for Bundle Adjustment Assessment in Close-Range UAV Photogrammetry

Murtiyoso

Grussenmeyer

Börlin

et al. 2018

Drones

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Close-range photogrammetry as a technique to acquire reality-based 3D data has, in recent times, seen a renewed interest due to developments in sensor technologies. Furthermore, the strong democratization of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or drones means that close-range photogrammetry can now be used as a viable low-cost method for 3D mapping. In terms of software development, this led to the creation of many commercial black-box solutions (PhotoScan, Pix4D, etc.). This paper aims to demonstrate how the open source toolbox DBAT (Damped Bundle Adjustment Toolbox) can be used to generate detailed photogrammetric network diagnostics to help assess the quality of surveys processed by the commercial software, PhotoScan. In addition, the Apero module from the MicMac software suite was also used to provide an independent assessment of the results. The assessment is performed by the careful examination of some of the bundle adjustment metrics generated by both open source solutions. A UAV project was conducted on a historical church in the city center of Strasbourg, France, in order to provide a dataset with a millimetric level of precision. Results showed that DBAT can be used to reprocess PhotoScan projects under similar conditions and derive useful metrics from them, while Apero provides a completely independent verification of the results of commercial solutions. Overall, this paper shows that an objective assessment of photogrammetric results is important. In cases where problems are encountered in the project, this assessment method can be useful to detect errors that may not be explicitly presented by PhotoScan.

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“…In this process, major advances have once again taken place thanks to matching techniques. The process starts from the powerful, although constrained to the favorable geometry of the so-called normal case, semi-global matching (SGM) [13]. This technique allows the creation of dense 3D point clouds models from multiple images with the same resolution as the GSD (ground sample distance) of the image; that is, each pixel of the image renders a specific point of the model.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Photogrammetric and Computer Vision-Based Approach for Automated 3D Architectural Modeling and Its Typological Analysis

et al. 2014

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Thanks to the advances in integrating photogrammetry and computer vision, as well as in some numeric algorithms and methods, it is possible to aspire to turn 2D (images) into 3D (point clouds) in an automatic, flexible and good-quality way. This article presents a new method through the development of PW (Photogrammetry Workbench) (and how this could be useful for architectural modeling). This tool enables the user to turn images into scale 3D point cloud models, which have a better quality than those of laser systems. Moreover, the point clouds may include the respective orthophotos with photographic texture. The method allows the study of the typology of architecture and has been successfully tested on a sample of ten religious buildings located in the region of Aliste, Zamora (Spain).

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Apero, an Open Source Bundle Adjusment Software for Automatic Calibration and Orientation of Set of Images

Cited by 196 publications

References 3 publications

High Resolution Historical Topography: Getting More from Archival Aerial Photographs

High Resolution Historical Topography: Getting More from Archival Aerial Photographs

Open Source and Independent Methods for Bundle Adjustment Assessment in Close-Range UAV Photogrammetry

A Photogrammetric and Computer Vision-Based Approach for Automated 3D Architectural Modeling and Its Typological Analysis

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