Chapter- 06
Photogrammetry- Relief Displacement
Prof. P. K. Garg
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
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Relief Displacement
• Due to varying heights of different ground points, every point
on the photograph is displaced from its original position.
• It is the displacement of the objects due to their heights on a
vertical aerial photograph from their true horizontal positions.
• The direction of relief displacement is always radial from the
principal point, and therefore it is also known as radial
displacement.
Aerial Image Distortion
• Six primary sources
Source Amount of Error
Primary
Terrain Major geometric
distortion in
Camera Tilt Major
vertical aerial
Film Deformation Minor photographs
Camera Lens Minor is due to
Atmospheric Bending Minor terrain relief
Other Camera Errors Minor
Relief Displacement
• The relief displacement will be more when the focal
length of camera lens is increased, and vice versa.
• The taller the object, the greater the relief
displacement.
• The relief displacement is zero at the Principal Point
and increases towards the border of the
photograph.
• Relief displacement is one of the main reasons, a
photograph is not directly used as map substitute.
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Difference between a map and aerial photographs
[Link]. Aerial Photograph Map
1 It is based on a Central projection. It is based on an Orthogonal projection.
2 It is a real representation of the ground. It is an abstract representation of the ground.
Legend is needed to read it.
3 The scale of the photograph is not uniform. The scale of the map is uniform throughout.
4 An aerial photograph has no geometric A map is a geometrically correct
distortion at its centre but it increases representation of part of the Earth projected.
towards the edges of the photograph.
5 Relief displacement is present Terrain relief is without distortion
6 It is comparatively difficult to read a In a map, objects are shown with different
photograph and identify the objects. symbols and colours, so easy to read and
identify the objects with the help of Legend.
7 The objects and features are represented in These are generally represented symbolically
their true shapes and sizes. with different symbols and not with their
actual sizes.
8 Aerial photography can be carried out for The mapping of inaccessible and hazardous
inaccessible and hazardous areas. areas is very difficult or impossible. 8
Relief Displacement
• The primary geometric distortion in vertical aerial
photographs is due to relief displacement.
• Objects directly below the centre of the camera lens (i.e. at
the nadir) will have only their tops visible, while all other
objects will appear to lean away from the centre of the photo
such that their tops and sides are visible.
• If the objects are tall or are far away from the centre of the
photo, the distortion and positional error will be larger.
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Relief Displacement
The higher objects, such as tall
buildings, trees, towers, hills etc., are
displaced away (outward) from the
principal point, while the lower
objects, such as valleys, depressions
etc. are displaced (inward) towards
the principal point.
In the photograph, the Washington
Monument appears to lean outwards
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Relief displacement
helps to create 3-D
view by stereoscope
It is used to
determine the height
of objects
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Relief Displacement
• Since, aerial photograph is based on the
central or perspective projection, all
objects on aerial photographs are
displaced from their true positions, except
the objects near the principal point where
relief displacement is zero.
• The cooling towers closer to the photo
edge show greater radial displacement.
Displacement of Objects
Objects directly below center of
camera lens (i.e., at the nadir) will
have only their tops visible
All other objects will appear to
lean away from the center of photo
so that their tops and sides both are
visible
(Relief Displacement)
Determination of Relief Displacement
r
Let AA0 be a transmission tower with height h above ground. The a and a0
respectively are the corresponding image points of tower on the photograph
which has been taken from O. The aa0 distance (d) on the photograph is
called the relief displacement.
r Ka
r0 Ka 0
R K 0 A0
d = a a 0 = r - ro
from similar triangles OKa0 and OK0A0
- r0 f fR
R H and r0
H
Determination of Relief Displacement (Contd..)
From similar triangles OKa and OK’0A
r f fR
r
R H h H h
fR fR
d r r0
H h H
d
fR
H H h
H H h
f .R.h
So relief displacement d
H .H h Eq. 1
H h
But R r
f
Determination of Relief Displacement (Contd..)
From
d
fh
H h .r rh
d
H H h
Eq. 1 So,
f H
Relief displacement (d) is directly proportional to radial distance of displaced
image point from principal point (r), and also directly proportional to the
height of the object (h).
The relief displacement is maximum at the edges of photograph, and is zero
at the principal point. The objects situated at the edges of a photograph may
not be selected for any measurement as they may have error.
Relief displacement is inversely proportional to the flying height, as (H)
increases (d) decreases.
Height Determination from Relief Displacement
The relief displacement of tower at A is 2.01
mm, the radial distance from photo center to
top image of tower is 56.43 mm, and the
flying height above ground is 1220 m.
Compute the height of tower above ground
The height of the tower is:
h = d*H / r
= 2.01*1220/56.43
= 43.4 m
Removal of Relief Displacement
The relief displacement is zero at the centre of photograph, so central
part of the photograph can be used for measurements.
The effect of relief due to height of various objects can be removed to a
certain extent by creating orthophotos from normal vertical photos.
Relief displacement is caused by differences in elevation. If the elevation
of the terrain surface is known throughout a scene, the geometric
distortion it causes can be rectified.
Orthophotos can be created by using ground control points as well as
Digital Elevation Model (DEM).
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Orthoimage
• orthoimage (or orthophoto) is a single aerial image in which
distortions caused by relief displacement have been removed.
• The scale of an orthoimage is uniform.
• Orthophotos will have the orthogonal projection and
properties similar to a map, and therefore can be used directly
for mapping and measurement purpose.
• Like a planimetrically correct map, orthoimages depict scenes
as though every point were viewed simultaneously from
directly above.
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Vertical Photo (left), Ortho Photo (Right)
Note that the power line clearing has been straightened in Ortho Photo
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Uses of ortho-images
• Create 3D model
• Carry accurate measurements
• Determine height of objects on the ground
• Create a mosaic
• Orthorectified images are commonly used as in visualization
tools, such as Google Earth, OSSIM Planet, ArcMap, WMS,
etc
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Mosaic
An assemblage of two or more
overlapping aerial photographs that
form a composite view of the total
area covered by the individual
photographs.
The mosaic provides an overview of
the landscape where the continuity
of features is maintained.
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Uncontrolled mosaics
• They are assembled without ground control
points.
• Photographs are simply fitted to match
pictorially without concern for scale
variation or positional relationships.
• Uncontrolled mosaics can not be used for
measuring distances or areas.
• They are good for viewing the area
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Controlled mosaics
They are assembled by cutting and fitting
together the central portions of vertical
airphotos to minimize radial displacements
and to closely match ground control points.
When the terrain is flat, the controlled
mosaics can be nearly as accurate as the
planimetric map at the same scale
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Orthophoto mosaics
The highly controlled in terms of
scale and positional accuracy where
displacements have been removed.
Precise measurement of distance and
areas can be made directly on the
mosaic.
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Thank You
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