What is Aerial Mapping?

Vertical aerial photography (sometimes called “satellite views”, “aerial surveys”, “orthophotos” or “orthomosaics”) are photos taken straight-down (nadir) from either an aircraft or satellite. They are different than oblique aerial photography (sometimes called “bird’s eye views”), which are photographs also taken from an aircraft, but taken at an angle. Vertical aerial photographs are generally not as aesthetically-pleasing as oblique aerial photographs, but have practical applications, such as for aerial photo maps or to produce digital elevation models (DEMs).

Vertical aerial photos give a straight-down perspective, just like a map.

Orthophoto of the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California, is a composite image of hundreds of vertical aerial photographs and processed into a single image, providing a comprehensive view of the fairgrounds and aiding in the strategic placement of booths and the management of visitor traffic.

Every Photo Mission is Custom

Our goal with every photo mission is to understand each client’s individual needs and capture the best imagery possible at a competitive price. Choosing the correct aerial platform and equipment for data collection allows us to gather large amounts of up-to-date data efficiently, minimizing costs for our clients without sacrificing on quality. No two photo missions are alike. This flexibility and years of experience allow us to safely and legally photograph all types of projects, even those within restricted airspaces or hard-to-reach locations.

Mapping orthophoto image of the City of Laguna Beach, California overlaid on existing imagery

City of Laguna Beach

Mapping Large Cities

Bespoke aerial photo maps are comprised of hundreds or thousands of individual aerial photographs, which are combined into a single image, allowing for high-resolution coverage of an entire city.

Data collected on aerial survey flights also allow for topographic modeling and land use analysis without requiring any additional flights.

High-Resolution Data Sets

By analyzing hundreds or thousands of individual photographs, we can create very detailed orthophotos. Zoom-out to see the city boundaries or zoom-in to see individual structures, all in one file!

Mapping high-resolution orthomosaic image of a residential area in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California

Property Line Map

How does it work?

Each photo mission is prepared to the custom specifications discussed with the client in advance. Multiple flight lines are generated over the proposed site, designed for high overlap between flight lines and successive images. Ground control points (GCPs), if needed, are acquired for the project (we recommend using GCPs for all projects that will be used in a CAD/GIS environment), requiring an on-site visit with a dGPS.

The mission is flown with high-resolution cameras mounted in a vertical position, pointing straight down. Once the vertical images are all captured, we return to base and begin post-processing.

The images are geotagged and sent through an advanced Structure-From-Motion (SFM) system. This system analyzes each pixel in each individual image and is able to calculate very precise camera positioning using a variety of techniques, such as Automatic Aero-Triangulation (AAT) and Bundle Block Adjustment. Using this precise camera calibration data, a rough 3D point cloud is generated and the individual camera positions are displayed, allowing for a visual quality check of the project. If everything looks good, we introduce the previously-collected ground control point data to improve accuracy and densify the 3D point cloud, which is used to generate a DSM and the subsequent orthophoto.

Services image of a high-accuracy dGPS (differential GPS) used to acquire Ground Control Points (GCP) on top of an aerial ground control point target

Acquiring Ground Control Points

Ground Control Points

We recommend having high-accuracy ground control points (GCPs) for all aerial mapping projects in order for the data sets to be as accurate as possible

Post-Processing

Once a flight is completed, every pixel is processed by a specialized Structure-from-Motion (SFM) system. Advanced algorithms are able to calculate the elevation of each pixel by analyzing the movement of pixels in overlapping images

Services screen shot of an aerial mapping project's Surface-From-Motion generated 3D Point Cloud

Aerial Mapping Post-Processing

Services image of a multi-spectral false-color Near-IR (near-infrared) orthophoto

Near IR Mapping Golf Course

Multispectral Imagery

Specialty cameras can capture spectrums that the human eye can't see, such as Near-infrared (IR) that indicates plant stress and Far-IR which can show the differences in temperature (thermography)

Animated flight through a 3D point cloud

Common Aerial Mapping Deliverables

Orthophoto/Orthomosaic
DEM (DSM/DTM)
3D Point Cloud
3D Texture Mesh
Contour Lines
Quality Report

Services image of an aerial mapping project orthophoto (orthomosaic)

Orthophoto / Orthomosaic

Orthophoto

The orthophoto (also called an "orthomosaic" or "aerial photo map") is an orthorectified mosaic of hundreds or thousands of images, which are processed together to create one seamless map

Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

The digital elevation model (DEM) can be delivered as a digital surface model (DSM), which shows the elevations of every visible object or as a digital terrain model (DTM), which has every object that is not the ground filtered out

Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

Services screen capture of an aerial mapping project 3D Color Point Cloud

3D Color Point Cloud

The 3D color point cloud is almost a blend of the orthophoto and DEM, with each point having a color value and an x, y, z coordinate

3D Simplified Texture Mesh

The 3D simplified texture mesh takes the points of the 3D color point cloud and fills the space between them with 2D polygons that are projected with textures, creating a less detailed, but also much smaller 3D model