Changing the Production Pipeline – Use of Oblique Aerial Cameras for Mapping Purposes

Abstract

ABSTRACT:This paper discusses the potential of current photogrammetric multi-head oblique cameras, such as UltraCam Osprey, to improve the efficiency of standard photogrammetric methods for surveying applications like inventory surveys and topographic mapping for public administrations or private customers. In 2015, Terra Messflug (TM), a subsidiary of Vermessung AVT ZT GmbH (Imst, Austria), has flown a number of urban areas in Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary with an UltraCam Osprey Prime multi-head camera system from Vexcel Imaging. In collaboration with FBK Trento (Italy), the data acquired at Imst (a small town in Tyrol, Austria) were analysed and processed to extract precise 3D topographic information. The Imst block comprises 780 images and covers an area of approx. 4.5 km by 1.5 km. Ground truth data is provided in the form of 6 GCPs and several check points surveyed with RTK GNSS. Besides, 3D building data obtained by photogrammetric stereo plotting from a 5 cm nadir flight and a LiDAR point cloud with 10 to 20 measurements per m² are available as reference data or for comparison. The photogrammetric workflow, from flight planning to Dense Image Matching (DIM) and 3D building extraction, is described together with the achieved accuracy. For each step, the differences and innovation with respect to standard photogrammetric procedures based on nadir images are shown, including high overlaps, improved vertical accuracy, and visibility of areas masked in the standard vertical views. Finally the advantages of using oblique images for inventory surveys are demonstrated.

Combining Airborne Oblique Camera and Lidar Sensors: Investigation and New Perspectives

“…Compared to standard APM in nadir-only image blocks, tie points extraction is more challenging when different viewing directions should be matched (Gerke et al, 2016;Moe et al, 2016). Indeed, although the lateral parts of objects (e.g.…”

“…GeoBLY (GEOmetry extraction tool from aerial OBLique imagery -Toschi and Moe, 2017) is a software solution, developed in the framework of a joint research project between FBK (Italy) and AVT (Austria). The aim of the project was the development of an efficient and flexible solution for the management of large oblique aerial surveys and the extraction of accurate 3D information from them (Moe et al, 2016). Particularly, the tool is intended to meet the need of mapping agencies and other actors involved in mapping applications (e.g.…”

Georeferencing procedures for oblique aerial images

“…Other researchers (Frueh et al, 2004;Ding et al, 2008;Jacobsen, 2008;Le Besnerais et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2008;Stilla et al, 2009;Wang and Neumann, 2009;Fritsch et al, 2012;Fritsch and Rothermel, 2013;Tommaselli et al, 2013;Markelin et al, 2014;Saeedi and Mao, 2014;Jhan et al, 2015;Rau et al, 2015;Rupnik et al, 2015;Sørensen et al, 2015;Jacobsen and Gerke, 2016;Moe et al, 2016;Nakada et al, 2016;Ostrowski, 2016;Passini et al, 2016;Mertes et al, 2017;Midgley and Tonkin, 2017;Sun et al, 2017;Toschi et al, 2017) presented results and conclusions concerning other parts of photogrammetric procedures as well. They either used existing commercial or free software for their research (Jacobsen, 2008;Smith et al, 2008;Fritsch et al, 2012;Verhoeven et al, 2012;Fritsch and Rothermel, 2013;Tommaselli et al, 2013;Markelin et al, 2014;Saeedi and Mao, 2014;Jhan et al, 2015;Rau et al, 2015;Sørensen et al, 2015;Gerke et al, 2016;Jacobsen and Gerke, 2016;Nakada et al, 2016;…”

“… datasets of multi-view oblique and vertical aerial images taken by multi-camera systems (Jacobsen, 2008;Smith et al, 2008;Gerke and Nyaruhuma, 2009;Fritsch et al, 2012;Wiedemann and Moré, 2012;Fritsch and Rothermel, 2013;Karel et al, 2013;Zhao et al, 2014;Jhan et al, 2015;Liu and Shao, 2015;Rau et al, 2015;Rupnik et al, 2015;Gerke et al, 2016;Jacobsen and Gerke, 2016;Moe et al, 2016;Nakada et al, 2016;Ostrowski and Bakuła, 2016;Passini et al, 2016;Sun et al, 2016;Jiang and Jiang, 2017a;Sun et al, 2017;Toschi et al, 2017;Jiang and Jiang, 2018);  datasets of multi-view oblique aerial imagery taken by multi-camera systems (Gerke, 2011;Habbecke and Kobbelt, 2012;Tommaselli et al, 2013;Geniviva et al, 2014;Saeedi and Mao, 2014;Ostrowski, 2016;Ostrowski and Bakuła, 2016;Jiang and Jiang, 2017a;Jiang and Jiang, 2018);  datasets of oblique and vertical aerial imagery taken by a single camera (Stilla et al, 2009;Markelin et al, 2014;Zhou and Liu, 2015);  datasets of oblique aerial imagery taken by a single camera (Frueh et al, 2004;Ding et al, 2008;Le Besnerais et al, 2008;…”

“…Some researchers (Karjalainen et al, 2006;Smith et al, 2008;Gerke and Nyaruhuma, 2009;Gerke, 2011;Habbecke and Kobbelt, 2012;Verhoeven et al, 2012;Wiedemann and Moré, 2012;Karel et al, 2013;Rupnik et al, 2013;Geniviva et al, 2014;Xiong et al, 2014;Zhao et al, 2014;Liu and Shao, 2015;Zhou and Liu, 2015;Doneus et al, 2016;Ostrowski and Bakuła, 2016;Sun et al, 2016;Jiang and Jiang, 2017a;Jiang and Jiang, 2018) focused entirely on the georeferencing part. Other researchers (Frueh et al, 2004;Ding et al, 2008;Jacobsen, 2008;Le Besnerais et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2008;Stilla et al, 2009;Wang and Neumann, 2009;Fritsch et al, 2012;Fritsch and Rothermel, 2013;Tommaselli et al, 2013;Markelin et al, 2014;Saeedi and Mao, 2014;Jhan et al, 2015;Rau et al, 2015;Rupnik et al, 2015;Sørensen et al, 2015;Jacobsen and Gerke, 2016;Moe et al, 2016;Nakada et al, 2016;Ostrowski, 2016;Passini et al, 2016;…”