Aerial photogrammetry services
Definition Aerial photogrammetry

Aerial photogrammetry definition

Photogrammetry is a technique used to model a territory or an object in 3 dimensions using photographs taken from different points of view. A common technique in topography, photographic mapping is used to survey large areas with excellent accuracy (pixel accuracy) and to produce detailed mapping required for most land use planning projects, terrain monitoring or geological assessments.

Aerial photogrammetry services by aircraft, drone

Aerial photogrammetry is our core business. Our company has been deploying this technique since 1961 and we have developed our own tools and procedures as well as continuing to regularly invest in the highest-performance, state-of-the-art equipment on the market (including sensors and software).

Our teams of engineers do their utmost to deliver the best service and achieve your projects starting with a careful assessment of flight plans to optimize accuracy and keep costs down.

We are equipped to implement aerial photography sensors on all types of aircraft: planes, helicopters and drones, giving us the flexibility to choose the best solution for your needs and the geography of the terrain. Our many calibrated photogrammetric devices enable us to produce very high resolution acquisitions.

With our expertise in Lidar technology, we can combine high density point clouds with traditional photogrammetry for greater efficiency and more applications, in particular for complex projects.

Our surveying company operates in France and abroad (Europe, French Overseas Territories, Africa, Asia, Middle-East).

Aerial photogrammetry applications

Aerial photogrammetry produces topographic maps and/or orthophotomaps at all scales, from 1/25 000 to 1/100 and is especially adapted to large areas or hard to reach zones.

The digital mapping produced has many applications including:

  • A comprehensive overview of a territory:
    • GIS (Geographic Information System),
    • DEM (Digital Elevation Model),
    • DTM (Digital Terrain Model),
    • DCM (Digital Canopy Model)…
  • Hydrography and dams:
    • Topographic maps,
    • Preliminary impact studies,
    • Measuring hydraulic drop height,
    • Dam tank calculations,
    • Rising water level simulations,
    • Watershed calculation, runoff…
  • Infrastructure studies:
    • Surface and volume calculations,
    • Land use planning (civil engineering, Building and Public Works, architecture, urban planning),
    • Simplified street map,
    • Communication lines (roads, highways, rail, canals…),
    • Data and energy transport (power lines, fiber optic cabling),
    • Renewable energies (wind turbines, solar panels),
    • Mountain development,
    • Pipelines…
  • Natural hazards:
    • Gravitational hazards (rockfall trajectories, trajectography),
    • Flood risk mapping,
    • Deformation monitoring (land slides, material transport, cliff erosion),
    • Glacier monitoring, avalanche risk mapping,
    • Emergency surveying following a major event…
  • Quarries and mines:
    • Site monitoring,
    • Volume calculations,
    • Site assessment,
    • Site rehabilitation.
  • Environmental studies:
    • Assessing the environmental impact of a project,
    • Consulting, expertise, land use project simulations…
  • Forestry and agriculture:
    • Potential irrigation area,
    • Detection of plant types,
    • Forestry inventory…
  • Archeology and heritage:
    • Assessments,
    • Project monitoring,
    • 3D modeling…
  • Texturation and coloring tool (« mapping »): combining a photograph with a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) for a more realistic picture of the scene.
  • Status archiving:
    • To preserve a legal record effective against a former status,
    • Assessment after a natural catastrophe…

These applications all have their constraints which our engineers carefully analyze to deliver innovative solutions tailored to the requirements of each particular case.

Technical resources and equipment

Our company deploys different types of aerial survey aircrafts and sensors:

  • Single engine (Cessna 206TU) or twin engine (Beechcraft 200, Beechcraft 90, Partenavia P68C) aircrafts
  • Helicopters
  • Rotary wing UAVs (Terradrone, DJI) or fixed wing UAVs (eBee)
  • Large format cameras (Z/I DMC and DMCII)
  • Medium format cameras (Leica RCD30, Hasselblad and Phase One)

The pictures can be acquired in natural color (RGB) or in near infrared (NIR). Thanks to our equipment, we are flexible and can deliver optimal customer solutions with fast turnaround times. Our in-house equipment (hardware and software) gives us great autonomy in the field in case of unforeseen events.

references

Sary Tany

Nosy Be (Madagascar)

 

Photogrammetric mapping at 1 /25 000 and tourist map on an area 321 km².

Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment, Grenoble – Argentière Glacier

Haute Savoie (France)

 

Photogrammetric mapping at 1 /10 000 to monitor evolution of the glacier and glacier mass balance.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Volumetry of buildings – LOD2 3D modelling by photogrammetry to produce a digital urban model.

Toulouse

Haute Garonne (France)

 

Photogrammetric mapping at 1/500 on 3 000 ha for land management and GIS integration.