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Chapter 8 PDF
Chapter 8 PDF
Introduction
Almost all modern topographic maps and many other types such as those depicting geology,
natural vegetation, and landuse, are based on information obtained from aerial photography. In this
chapter we will consider how aerial photograph surveys are flown and then we will examine the
photogrammetric properties of single aerial photographs and of stereopairs. We will conclude our
discussion by considering how aerial photographs are used in the interpretation of cultural features.
In Canada most aerial photography is obtained by air-survey companies under contract to various
Federal or Provincial government agencies. All of Canada has been photographed from the air, some of
it many times over at different scales and in different seasons and years going back to the late 1920's.
Federal aerial photographs (and maps) are available from the Canada Map Office and the National Air
Photo Library (both at 615 Booth St., Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E9) while the appropriate Provincial agency in
British Columbia is Maps B.C. (Ministry of Environment, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, British Columbia
V8V 1X5).
Aerial photographs often are used in the same manner as maps and it might be useful if we note
at the start the advantages and limitations of each medium.
Geographers make use of both maps and aerial photographs as complementary sources of
landscape data and as storage for spatial data. Used together, aerial photographs and maps offset or
eliminate some of the limitations noted above.
8.1: Camera orientation for obtaining vertical, low-oblique, and high-oblique, aerial photography.
All aerial photography taken with the camera axis set at some angle other than 90o to the
horizontal, is referred to as oblique aerial photography. A low-oblique aerial photograph is one taken with
the camera axis inclined at about 30o from the vertical. This type of photography yields a familiar type of
view of the landscape (as we would see it from some high vantage point) but it does not allow distance or
height measurements in any straightforward way. A high oblique aerial photograph is one taken with
the camera inclined at about 60o to the vertical so that the horizon appears in the photograph (see
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8.2: Types of aerial photograph (A) An example of vertical aerial photography (B.C. Government
photograph). This photograph of a reach of Squamish River near Squamish, B.C. is shown at 65% of the
actual size of the contact print (24 x 24 cm). Note the B.C. Government identification number in the top
right corner (BC81001) and the top to bottom display of altimeter, bubble level, clock and date panel on
the right-hand side of the photograph. The fiducial marks centred on the sides allow accurate specification
of the centre point on the photograph.
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8.2 (continued) (B) an example of high-angle aerial photography (B.C. Government photograph). This
photograph of Squamish River delta and Howe Sound is displayed at 65% of the size of the original print.
Like most oblique photography, this example is quite dated (1943) and consequently provides a valuable
historic record and baseline for analyzing landscape changes.
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Figure 8.1). High oblique photographs have the same photogrammetric limitations as low oblique aerial
photographs. Although obliques were used to prepare maps of Canada's far northern wilderness areas
about fifty years ago they have long since been discontinued as a mapping tool. Nevertheless, they
provide interesting historical detail in some areas and occasionally are used for general illustrative
purposes in reports and books.
Although multiple camera arrays have been used to obtain aerial photographs in the past, all
modern aerial photography is obtained from single cameras. Two early formats included fore and aft dual
cameras for simultaneously producing pairs of low obliques and the three camera setup known as the
trimetrogon system in which a central camera took a vertical aerial photograph as two side-scanning
cameras simultaneously took two adjacent oblique photographs.
Depending on the type of film used in the survey camera, an aerial photograph may be
panchromatic, colour, or false colour, in character.
Panchromatic aerial photography, or 'conventional black and white' photography as it commonly
is called, yields an image in tones of grey with good contrast that aids in the identification of ground
features. Panchromatic film is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light although it is common in such
photography to cut out light at the blue (short-wavelength) end of the spectrum by using an appropriate
filter on the camera. The reason for this filtering is that blue light sometimes obscures ground detail
because it is readily scattered by atmospheric haze.
Colour aerial photography is not commonly used in Canada for routine surveys although it exists
for selected areas where special projects have called for its use. Although these photographs record light
across the entire range of the visible spectrum they are less useful than you might expect. Much of this
type of photography is processed as coloured transparencies and are not as readily used in the field as a
conventional print. Although prints can be produced they are relatively expensive and they commonly
lack the fine resolution of detail available on conventional panchromatic aerial photography. On the other
hand, under suitable conditions, colour photography does allow better penetration of water than
conventional photography and thus may be relatively more useful in detailing offshore coastal
geomorphology or the configuration of shallow lake bottoms.
False-colour aerial photography refers to a special type of film sensitive to near-infrared radiation
and light at the red (long wavelength) end of the visible spectrum. In Canada and elsewhere false-colour
aerial photography is only available for quite limited areas. Because water reflects almost no infrared
light, water bodies appear in very dark tones on this type of photography and thus may lend itself to the
mapping shorelines. It also is used to map vegetation and crops because it can detect very small
differences in the chlorophyll content between different plant species as well as differences within species
caused by disease and environmental stress.
Examples of these special types of aerial photography will be available for inspection in the Map
and Air Photo Interpretation Laboratory but we will not explore them further here. Our work in this chapter
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may be determined if the camera focal length and flight height are known:
focal length
scale = ......................................................(8.2)
flight height
For example, the average scale of photographs taken at 10 000 feet (3 048 metres) above the
0.1524 1
terrain with a 6-inch (0.1524-metre) focal-length lens is or . Note that, for a photo-scale
3 048 20 000
determination using equation 8.2, the focal length and the flight height must be expressed in the same
0.5 feet
units. Thus, if we had chosen to use the Imperial units, the scale would be = 1: 20 000. It
10 000 feet
also is very important to remember that flight height refers to the distance above the ground directly below
and not necessarily to the altitude (height above sea level or the base airport) of the aircraft. For this
reason a more precise restatement of equation (8.2) should read:
focal length
scale = ...................................(8.3)
[flight altitude - average terrain elevation]
It is very important to remember that an aerial photograph is not a controlled map and that a
photographic scale determined in this way is a mean or averaged scale . That is, it is the scale of the
mean surface of the area photographed and not necessarily the accurate scale at any one point. If the
area photographed is horizontal and very flat (low relief) then the scale determined by equation (8.3) will
provide a good indication of scale over the entire photograph. But if the area photographed has
considerable topographic relief the scale may vary considerably above or below that given by equation
(8.3). The tops of mountains that are above the mean topographic surface will appear on the aerial
photograph at larger than the calculated scale and valley bottoms and other surfaces below the mean
topographic surface will appear on the aerial photograph at less than the calculated scale. The scale
variation over an aerial photograph of a mountainous area is considerable and represents one of the
important limitations of aerial photographs as maps.
An alternative method of determining the scale of an aerial photograph is by direct comparison of
the photograph with a topographic map of known scale. This method commonly is used because
information on the focal length and flight height of photography usually are not readily available. Scale of
a photograph is determined by this method as follows:
1. Select two points common to both the photograph and the topographic map. They should be
as widely spaced as possible in order to keep measurement error to a minimum. Using the scale of the
map measure the terrain distance, Δt, between the two points.
2. Measure the distance on the photograph, Δp, between the two points in question.
Δp
3. If Δt and Δp are expressed in the same units, the scale of the aerial photograph is with the
Δt
numerator reduced to unity in the conventional way.
For example, if the distance between two points, A and B, is measured on an aerial photograph to
€
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be 9.26 cm, and a topographic map shows the corresponding distance on the ground to be 3.24 km, then
9.26 1
scale of the aerial photograph = =
324 000 34 989
1
or approximately
35 000
Photographic scale determined by the map-comparison method is that for the sites A to B on
which it is based. For other sites on the same aerial photograph the scale may be smaller or larger
depending on whether these sites are lower or higher in elevation with respect to A-B. The degree of
variation in scale is directly proportional to the amount of relief in the area.
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8.6: Radial displacement on aerial photographs. A: Relative positions of correctly plotted features
in the orthographic projection of a map and the corresponding displaced images on an aerial
photograph. B: Relative radial displacement of terrain features on an aerial photograph in relation to
height above the datum plane and distance from the nadir.
above the datum plane as A, it is not radially displaced to the same extent.
For any one aerial photograph the amount of radial displacement, m, of the top of an object from
its base, can be determined by the relation:
rh
m= ..................................................................(8.4)
H
in which r = radial distance on the photograph from the centre point to the top of the image
displaced, h = height of the object displaced, and H = the flight height. Rearranging equation (8.4) yields
a convenient expression for estimating the height of an object on a photograph by measuring its radial
displacement:
m
h= H ................................................................(8.5)
r
In equations (8.5) and (8.4) the photographic measurements m and r must be expressed in the
same units and h will be in the units of H. An example of this type of height determination appears in
Figure 8.7. Clearly, this method of estimating object height depends in part on an accurate
determination of the height of the camera above the object photographed. This local height is most
accurately determined by finding the scale of the photograph by the map-comparison method and
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in which L = the actual length of the shadow on the ground and ß = the angle of inclination of the sun.
Obviously the scale of the photograph must be known in order to use this method.
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cue to perceiving depth in ordinary vision (the same view through two spatially separated eyes), a
stereoscope reproduces the same parallax-dependent sense of depth by allowing us to view one
photograph with the left eye while viewing another spatially displaced photograph with the right eye. This
technique successfully tricks the brain into thinking that the parallax displacement apparent in the merged
images of the two adjacent photographs is the result of viewing a truly three-dimensional surface through
unaided eyes. Consequently, stereoscopic viewing allows us to see the area photographed in three
dimensions; it is a very powerful analytical technique that is an important part of the geographer's 'tools of
trade'.
The geometry of the stereoscopic model allows us to determine the height of the land surface
based on parallax displacement between adjacent photographs. This principle is the basis of all
photogrammetry and topographic mapping from aerial photographs. Although the application of these
photogrammetric techniques are beyond the scope of our introductory survey of aerial photography (they
are developed in Geography 350), we will be concerned with stereoscopic viewing as an aid to aerial
photograph interpretation.
The purpose of the stereoscope is to facilitate the merging of the two photographic images into
one unified view. Stereoscopic vision can be achieved by most (but not all) people after a little
perseverance. Initial stereovision may take some time to establish but once achieved it can be readily
reestablished on subsequent occasions.
Stereoscopes may be simple but quite effective pocket stereoscopes for viewing prepared
stereograms or they may be larger mirror stereoscopes for convenient viewing of pairs of contact prints.
Regardless of the type of instrument being used the procedure for stereoscopic viewing is the same. The
pair of photographs should be arranged so that a common field of vision can be observed through each
lens of the stereoscope. It may help to place a finger on each image of a feature common to both
photographs and adjust the photograph orientation until you see the fingernails on each finger merge into
one under the stereoscope. At that point the photographs should be correctly adjusted for steroscopic
viewing. There will be no mistaking the onset of stereovision; the entire field of stereovision will be thrown
into an unequivocally three-dimensional view.
You should note that the heights of objects and the relief of the land is exaggerated under the
stereoscope. This may be a virtue in photographs of low-relief terrain but it must always be considered
when interpreting photographs of any area.
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areas into former agricultural lands. The reasons are many and varied and the appropriate requisite skills
of aerial photograph interpretation are similarly diverse.
The best teacher of recognition and interpretive skills in any of these contexts is experience and
later exercises involve some 'hands on' activity in this regard. Nevertheless, there are some useful
general principles of interpretation common to any work with aerial photograph interpretation and you
should note them well.
Photographs should always be arranged so that any shadows fall towards the viewer; like hill
shading, shadows can help to convey a sense of the third dimension. Indeed, on some photographs the
relief may appear to be inverted if the shadows are falling away from the viewer!
Just as we use the familiar to evaluate the unknown in all other areas of human activity, we
should not disregard the obvious or apparently mundane information when we interpret aerial
photographs. Familiar features such as roads and houses provide useful scales. Many other cultural
features can be identified by association. For example, noting the presence of an adjacent railroad siding
or a playground may be a means of determining whether a building is a school or a factory. The ability to
pay attention to detail is important and is the single most important quality distinguishing the novice from
the experienced interpreter of aerial photographs.
Tonal pattern on conventional aerial photography records reflectivity and not necessarily colour.
The degree to which light is reflected from surfaces depends in turn on the roughness or texture of the
surface. If a surface in very smooth, like an asphalt parking lot, it may reflect a great deal of light and will
appear very light in tone even though it may be close to black in colour. By the same token a forest or
ploughed field may be quite dark in tone because the surface scatters light away from the camera. Water
bodies provide a special case in that they often appear to be black because they are 'transparent' and
absorb rather than reflect light. An exception occurs when the incident angle of the sun's rays is low and
the camera lies in the path of the reflected rays. In this case the water may act as a mirror, reflecting
much of the incident light and appearing a very light and bright shade on the photograph.
Calibration and 'ground truthing' are important to successful aerial photograph interpretation. The
appearance of various kinds of land surface on a photograph often is difficult to predict but types can be
established in known areas and these then form the basis for interpretation elsewhere. For example, a
known marsh can be used to establish the 'marsh type' surface and others can therefore be identified in
unmapped areas nearby. At other times it may be necessary to conduct a field study to delineate a
particular landform or landsurface type in order to correlate the real thing with the aerial photograph
analogue.
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