History of Aerial Photography
May 13th, 2009 by Caroline
Aerial photography, a method of taking photographs from an elevated position, is commonly accomplished with the use of an airplane, helicopter, blimp, or balloon. There are various classifications of aerial photographs, one of which is vertical photography (also known as orthophotography). Orthophotos, or aerial maps, are photographs that have been corrected so they can be used as maps. These are graphic representations of the physical features (natural, artificial, or both) of the earth’s surface. They tend to be very accurate, particularly because multiple geometric transformations are applied to the images, and variations in the terrain are accounted for and corrected.
Since their existence, aerial maps and photography have become increasingly popular and extremely useful. For example, aerial photography is used for:
- Archeology
- Building and facilities maintenance
- Cartography
- Commercial real estate
- Construction industry, including project planning and tracking
- Education, including geography, oceanography, and social studies
- Engineering, including site location
- Environmental studies
- Erosion control
- Government agencies
- Land surveyance
- Land-use planning, including freeways, safety, and property analysis
- Legal
- Marketing and advertising
- Movie production
- Residential real estate
- Surveillance and monitoring
- Time-lapse photography
- Water use, including watershed analysis
The majority of present-day aerial cameras are digital, and technology has advanced to make aerial photography very simple, quick, efficient, and extremely effective. In fact, because most aerial photographers now use gyrostabilizers to counteract the movement of the aircraft or other aerial platform, the resulting high-resolution images are of outstanding quality that can be used the same day they’re taken.
Although aerial photography is in widespread use for a diverse set of commercial, industrial, agricultural, governmental, and private clients, the most common use for aerial photography is aerial mapping. The public can easily view aerial images on Web sites such as Google Earth and TerraServer. Aerial maps have proven to be an extremely valuable tool and will continue to advance over the coming years.
