Ortho-rectification is a process that uses multiple overlapping vertical aerial

photographs of an area to create an ortho-photo. Using these overlapping photographs,

common points are triangulated and a 3D model of the terrain is created.

Rectification of Orthophotos
Orthorectification services and Drone data, as well as GIS data acquisition and UAV
imagery, play an important role in general mapping. First, they help provide a solid visual
effect. When they see images, most people are more capable of putting ideas into context.
Therefore, providing a basis for collecting information is the secondary and perhaps more
important function. Features such as streets, trees, and irrigation are examples of this. The
image data must be processed in a way that avoids noise before this information can be
obtained in a manner that is usable for mapping or orthorectification. This process is
commonly known as orthorectification. Without the orthorectification method, you would not
be able to measure lengths, angles, locations, and areas clearly and precisely.

What do you mean by Orthorectification?

Orthorectification is basically the process of removing geometric errors such as Camera

orientation with Systematic error associated with camera/lens distortion etc. It also helps in
Relief displacement and measuring Earth curvature. orthorectification helps in rectifying the
Earth's surface for measuring Earth's flexure.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Orthorectification can be generated by an elevation model (DEM) and an aerial photo. The
elevation generated by an elevation model (DEM) and an aerial photo. The elevation model
can be generated by the same stereoscopic photographs, so no model can be generated by the
same stereoscopic photographs, so no other source of data is needed. other source of data is
needed. Shows photographic detail without errors caused by tilt and displacement. An ortho-
rectification product blends with the benefits of a map (constant size, projection) with those
of a picture (photographic accuracy and detail)
Orthophoto Producing and Orthorectification are produced by first obtaining or generating a
DEM of the orthophotos which are produced by first obtaining or generating a DEM of the
area. This elevation information is then used to remove the elevation area. The development
of orthophotos has two main approaches; forward orthorectification projection and backward
orthorectification projection.

PhotoScan is a software of choice to produce quick orhtos.

Orthorectification
Orthorectification is the process of
removing the effects of image
perspective (tilt) and relief (terrain)
effects for the purpose of creating a
planimetrically correct image. The
resultant orthorectified image has a
constant scale wherein features are
represented in their 'true' positions.
This allows for the accurate direct
measurement of distances, angles, and
areas (i.e. mensuration).
Orthorectified images are commonly
used as in visualization tools such as
Google Earth, OSSIM Planet,
ArcMap, WMS, etc.

The requisite inputs for

Above are 2 images of the same geographic area. Note the road that
orthorectification: passes through the mountains. In the left "raw" or unrectified image,
the road appears to be crooked when in fact it is not. The image on the
right has been rectified image and the road appears planimetrically
1. An image with accurate sensor correct.
geometry
2. A elevation model of the ground surface in DEM, DTED, or SRTM format

The resulting accuracy of the orthoimage is based on the accuracy of the triangulation, the
resolution of the source image, and the accuracy of the elevation model.

Satellite imagery and aerial photographs play an important role in general mapping, GIS data
acquisition ,and visualization. First, they help provide a solid visual effect. Many people are
more able to put spatial concepts into perspective when they see photos. In addition, the
secondary and perhaps more vital role is to provide a basis for gathering spatial information.
Examples of this are features such as roads, vegetation, and water. Before the information
acquired in a manner that is useful for a mapping or GIS environmet, the image data must be
processed to remove distortion. This process is called orthorectification. Without this process,
you wouldn't be able to make direct and accurate measurements of distances, angles,
positions, and areas.

What is Orthorectification?

The topographical variations in the surface of the earth and the tilt of the satellite or aerial
sensor affect the distance with which features on the satellite or aerial image is displayed. The
more topographically diverse the landscape, the more distortion inherent in the image.
Image data acquired by airborne and satellites are affected by a systematic sensor and
platform-induced geometry errors, which introduce terrain distortions when the sensor is not
pointing directly at the Nadir location of the sensor.

A=Nadir B=Nadir Line

Terrain displacement can be hundreds of meters. For example, if the IKONOS satellite sensor
acquires satellite map data over an area with a kilometer of vertical relief, with the sensor
having an elevation angle of 60° (30° from Nadir), the image produced will have nearly 600
meters of terrain displacement. Additional terrain displacement can result from errors in
setting the reference elevation. Low elevation angles of images, imperfect terrain models, and
variability of sensor azimuth and elevation angles within an image limit accuracy potential if
image orthorectification is attempted. For this reason, when new high resolution satellite
image data is acquired over rough terrain, high-elevation angles of the sensor is required.

IKONOS Satellite Image Orthorectification

Click on image to view Orthorectification animation

 IKONOS (0.8m) Satellite Image

Orthorectification is the process of removing internal and external distortions to assign

more accurate coordinates to the final image. The goal of orthorectification is to create
a final product whereby every pixel in the image is depicted as if it were viewed at
nadir (or directly overhead), thereby removing the affects of hills, valleys, etc. on the
data. Once data has been orthorectified, you are able to compute distances, areas and
directions more accurately from the imagery. As a side note, it is never possible to
remove all of the distortion in an image as after all, we display imagery on a flat
surface (e.g. a computer monitor or paper) while the world is obviously curved; or put
another way, no orthorectified image will be 100% true to its real world position. How
to Create an Orthorectified Image

Generally speaking, an orthorectified image starts georeferenced. To orthorectify an image,

you need at minimum these two items:
  An elevation model – this is a spatial layer that shows the topography of the ground under
the imagery you plan to orthorectify. The preferred format of the elevation layer is a digital
terrain model (DTM) whereby human-made features as well as vegetation and other surface
features have been removed; accordingly, this is sometimes called a bare earth model.
 A camera model or rational polynomial coefficients (RPCs) – we will describe both of these
items in more detail shortly, but simply stated, the camera model or RPCs describe the
positional relationship of the imagery to the ground below when it was collected by the
sensor.

In order to have a guaranteed accuracy for orthorectified imagery, ground control points
(GCPs) are required. While we will discuss ground control in more detail in upcoming G-
FAQs, for now let’s define them as known points on the surface of the planet that can be
found in the imagery you plan to orthorectify. When an elevation model, a camera
model/RPCs and ground control are taken together, orthorectified data can be extremely
accurate – the higher the quality of the DEM and/or GCPs you use, the more accurate the
final product can be.

For our visual-learning readers, orthorectification can be pictured in this fashion. High-
resolution imagery is akin to a balloon that is stretched over the topography of the planet (i.e.
the elevation model) and is tied down at multiple locations with known coordinates (i.e.
GCPs). Once this stretching and tying-down process is completed, the balloon is now
positioned accurately on the surface of our planet, or it has been orthorectified.

From the graphic and description above, it might be apparent that removing the influence of
topography on imagery is one of the most important steps of orthorectification. The effect of
topography is to tilt features in an image away from the center of the camera, and this is
counter-acted by employing an elevation model in the orthorectification process.
Accordingly, orthorectification has a more drastic impact on accuracy in areas of high relief.
As a general rule of thumb, when orthorectifying high-resolution imagery, you should use a
10-meter elevation model or better; and in areas with extremely high relief, you might
consider a higher resolution elevation model than this. Obviously, this is a general rule of
thumb as it can be nearly impossible to find free 10-meter elevation models outside the USA;
and creating them can be very costly and take weeks to months to complete.

As mentioned at the outset of this article, the mathematical models used to orthorectify
imagery are beyond the scope of this G-FAQ. That said, it is useful to describe two of the
more common methods employed in the orthorectification process from a high-level. The
most common method is the black-box (or the analytical) model. This method does not look
at the specifics of a sensor and/or the collection geometry of the imagery, rather it relies on
RPC files (which we will address in more detail in the second part of this G-FAQ) for
orthorectification. The advantage of the black-box method is that it is easy to implement as
software developers do not have to gather proprietary information (i.e. the camera model) for
each sensor.

The second methods for orthorectification are physical-based models which take into account
a wide variety of factors influencing the acquisition of imagery. One of the most popular
physical-based methods is referred to as the rigorous model or camera model. The rigorous or
camera model is based on proprietary information about each sensor that can only be
obtained from its owner; as such, many commercial software packages do not include this
method. This model takes into account multiple factors not considered in the black-box
model including the exact position of the satellite in space when the image was acquired, the
sensor’s electronic and optical characteristics as well as atmospheric effects. The advantage
of the rigorous model is improved accuracy of the orthorectified image, though my review of
the available research suggests the impact is minimal. For example, Dial and Grodecki found
less than a 0.1 pixel residual error difference between IKONOS imagery orthorectified by the
black-box and rigorous models.

In the second part of this G-FAQ series, we will continue the discussion on orthorectification
with a focus on accuracy testing and RPC files.

Ortho photo is a uniform-scale photograph and its geometrically corrected photographic map. It is possible
to measure directly on it like other maps because it is a uniform scale map. An ortho photo may serve as a
base map onto which other map information can be overlaid.

Using UAV photos and flight log, we do ortho rectification following process which includes aligning
photos using each image control point,
ground control points and point cloud. Point cloud is processed using UAV images.


 Utility Featuers Visibility

Ortho Rectified Image

Rectified Ortho Close View

Orthorectification
Many factors contribute to the geometric properties of a remotely sensed image. The
introduction of geometric distortions during image capture is inevitable and contributes to
geospatial positioning errors, object artifacts and scale inconsistencies in geographically
referenced imagery. The image acquisition geometry, the topographic relief of the image
area, the optical fidelity of the sensor and the positional stability of the sensor each play a role
in the amount and type of errors that are introduced.

Orthorectification is a process that removes the geometric distortions introduced during

image capture and produces an image product that has planimetric geometry, like a map.
Orthorectified imagery, also known as orthoimagery, is precisely registered to a ground
coordinate system and the image scale is constant throughout the entire image. Orthorectified
imagery is also free of artifacts, such as leaning objects and crooked linear features, due to
relief displacement. These properties make orthoimagery ‘map accurate’ and the clear choice
for applications that require accurate positional information and precise measurement of
features.

Uses for Orthoimagery

Orthoimagery is an essential element to many geospatial information applications. It is most

commonly used as an image base or contextual backdrop for a map to form a more complete
visualization of the environment being represented. The photographic nature of orthoimagery
is easily interpretable by users and often provides the most up-to-date information of the
geography under study. Used with GIS data layers, orthoimagery can form rich geospatial
data visualizations for cadastral mapping, urban planning, civil engineering, topographic
mapping, site evaluations, transportation analysis and natural resource management.

Since orthoimagery is considered map accurate, it provides the ideal data source for digitizing
planimetric map features like roads, utility assets, urban infrastructure and natural features.
These feature classes can be collected off of the orthoimagery using manual ‘heads-up’
onscreen digitization or through more automated methods like object based feature extraction
(e.g., ENVI Fx).

In a similar fashion, orthoimagery is useful for vector data verification tasks. Through the
comparison of vector data against up-to-date orthoimagery, it is easy to identify feature
omissions, misaligned features or otherwise out-of-date features in a geodatabase. For
example, orthoimagery would clearly show when a road intersection is realigned to improve a
safety condition.

Orthoimagery is also needed for precise three dimensional point coordinate determination, to
accurately measure distances between two points and along routes, and to make unbiased
areal calculations. These capabilities are important to engineering and military applications
where mission success depends on information with the highest spatial accuracy.

Industry Segments Requiring Orthorectification:

 Civil Engineering
 Defense (Targeting, Engineering, Site Analysis)
 Economic Development
 Environmental Monitoring
 Forestry
  Natural Resource Management
 Real Property Inventory and Assessment
 Urban Planning
 Watershed Analysis

Approaches to Orthorectification

There are two common but different technical approaches to orthorectification. Each attempts
to improve the accuracy of the absolute image pixel location through a reconstruction of the
imaging geometry using elevation inputs. However, the methods differ in the number of input
parameters used, the complexity of the sensor models employed and the exactness of the
solution.