Fundamentals of Photogrammetry

Abstract

Like in many other disciplines, there is no universally accepted definition of the term photogrammetry. The Manual of Photogrammetry (2003) defines photogrammetry as the art, science, and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through processes of recording, measuring, and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic (EM) radiant energy and other phenomena. Notably, the extracted information could be of a geometric, physical, semantic or even temporal nature, although in many photogrammetric applications the geometric information is more relevant. Other popular definitions of this non-contact discipline are given e.g., in Moffit and Mikhail (1980),Wolf (1980),Kraus (1994), Schenk (2005) etc. In a very broad sense, and from a network design point of view, (Fraser 2000) reckons that a photogrammetric system is one that meets the following basic requirements: