An Approach to Single Image Automatic Orientation and Point Determination by Using Ortho-Images and a Dtm

This paper describes an approach to single image automatic orientation and point determination by using current ortho-images and a DTM, and the experience gained in its implementation. The procedure proposed automatically extracts and matches feature points in evenly distributed patches on aerial images and ortho-images. A large number of image measurements (up to several thousand) are obtained in this process and are included in a robust space resection to determine the orientation parameters of the aerial image. For point determination with a single image, a method is formalised which integrates the DTM interpolation into the space resection so that the 3D ground coordinates of the image points can be determined in a unified mathematical model. Tests and analyses of this method show that the large number of automatic image measurements relieves the requirement for complicated and precise feature extraction and matching methods. The ground points obtained from single image intersection have an accuracy of approximately 1 pixel in planimetry, which fulfils the requirement for ortho-image updating. The elevation accuracy is mainly dependent on the quality of the current DTM and the interpolation method applied to it.