What is Digital Orthophotography and Why Do I Need it?

By Chris Matthews

Firstly to understand orthophotography you will need to know what it is, this is what I will explain to you today and you will also learn in which cases orthophotography can be used and by whom. This will open your eyes to how new and old technologies can be used in conjunction to create a new kind of photography and of course its uses.

You may have seen aerial photographs of your area or another, and Digital Orthophotography is basically this only it is used alongside digital technology to give you the best picture possible as all of the distortion that may ruin other kinds of pictures is taken away to give you the clearest picture possible. The pictures are taken when the weather is good which also means that the quality will be better still.

The actual height from which an orthophotographic picture is taken from is 5'000 feet so as you can imagine it can cover a good area size, this will allow you to cover and look at a large area without having obstacles such as hills and tall buildings blocking your view.

It is also used for measurement purposes, and the best way that I can describe it is to compare it to fitting a carpet. If you wanted to fit a carpet into your house before you could purchase it you would need to know the exact size, this is something that you cannot do with guesswork otherwise you could end up with not enough or too much material, this is the same when you think of building structure. If you were to measure the room for the carpet you would not be dragging the tape measure over the furniture in the room, you would do so from the walls as you would be sure they are the clearest space, and if not you would move the obstacle in the way, of course a building would not be as easy to move as your television, neither would a hill or mountain which is why taking a clear photograph from up above is an easier way to do it.

Many organizations as well as businesses can make great use of orthophotography as well as saving money and time in the process. One such organization that uses it is the environmental heritage service which is located in Northern Ireland. What they do is conserve nature and they will be able to tell from a series of photographs taken how much certain things have changed and of course, whether this is an improvement or not so that they can make the necessary changes.

You can not always tell a change such as this one if you were to take photographs from the ground, plus it would take a lot more photographs to cover the area than one taken from up high.

A lot can be seen on these kinds of photographs and when people are using illegal dumping sites, this can also be identified, even if this may have been well hidden from those on the ground, this will mean that this kind of illegal activity can be discovered and dealt with. So it even has its uses when it comes to keeping within the law and helping to protect the environment for present and future generations.

As you have hopefully learned today there are many ways in which orthophotography can be used. You are not alone as this is something that other people have already latched onto, and are being able to see more than ever before. - 30452

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