Digital Orthophotography Services

The growth in demand for the Geographic Information System (GSI) technology has led to the popularity of the digital orthophotography that has provided an accurate way of constructing a GSI database. Whether you have photogrammetric capabilities or want a complete digital orthophotography services, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of digital orthophotography is vital. The main reason why the growth of the technique has become significantly popular is because most software can incorporate the image hence making the digital orthophotos compatible with the GSI. An orthophoto is a very cost-effective mapping tool as compared to conventional line mapping. With this technique, you can be able to form an excellent base for GSI inexpensively. This is possible because the features on the image are accurately measured. The speed of map production is also high. There are optional ways of storing the image output when using this technique. The image can be stored in analog or digital form depending on the desired form. There is no image generalization as is the case with conventional vector map! The viewer of the image is able to see what is depicted on the image. In conventional vector map the information is usually not complete because it only conveys a generalization of the cartographer about what the map should contain. It can also be used effectively when assessing the accuracy of a map. Images of orthophotos use a wider electromagnetic spectrum. This can be utilized for specialized purpose like emphasizing images on the ground when using infrared or filtered imagery. The orthophoto is a very reliable medium that can be used in mapping of areas that are inaccessible. Stereomates can be created for viewing from the orthophoto. The technology has also been used as a perfect tool of assessing any kind of change in an area. Since orthophotography is just a tool, it's important for the user community to understand that it is not applicable in all situations. It comes with some disadvantages: Although features can be depicted on the image it still needs interpretation by the user to bring out missing features like the specific feature identification. For example it might be hard for the viewer to distinguish between commercial buildings and residential buildings; instead, see just buildings. There are also hidden areas where it seems like no data exits. The data that is shown on the image counts for the data that is on the ground only and this may be hidden sometimes. rnThe absence of spatial analysis capabilities is also another big undoing. For example, a user community can identify a line within a vector map and of course an attribute table can consequently be displayed. This is not the case in orthophotography, if you click on the same feature; on a rasterized image it's only a pixel display that will display. Note that since the resolution of the image is partly influenced by the size of pixels, increasing the resolution of the computer to finer levels will definitely increase the size of the image.