IMAGINE Photogrammetry is a software application for performing photogrammetric operations on imagery and extracting information from imagery. IMAGINE Photogrammetry is significant because it is a leading commercial photogrammetry application that is used by numerous national mapping agencies, regional mapping authorities, various DOTs, as well as commercial mapping firms. Aside from commercial and government applications, IMAGINE Photogrammetry is widely used in academic research. Research areas include landslide monitoring, cultural heritage studies, and more.
Capabilities
IMAGINE Photogrammetry is generally used for the processing of raw imagery through to the creation of geospatial dataproducts such as digital terrain models, 3D features, and digital orthophotos. There are a number of approaches for photogrammetric applications. Imagery may come fromremote sensing satellites, airborne cameras, or ground-based cameras. In the context of airborne film cameras, the workflow would involve scanning the imagery, solving the interior orientation parameters, and triangulating the images. Once the images are triangulated, image pairs may be viewed in stereo and 3D measurements can be made. The system can automatically generate digital terrain models, which can be reviewed and edited in stereo. Once an accurate 3D surface has been derived, triangulated images may be orthorectified. In addition to this workflow, IMAGINE Photogrammetry supports 3D feature extraction, radiometric adjustment, and a number of additional digital image processing capabilities available from ERDAS IMAGINE, which is included with IMAGINE Photogrammetry.
Other workflows
In addition to the workflows above, IMAGINE Photogrammetry also supports the following applications:
Satellite Photogrammetry
Direct Georeferencing: ground control points are not used because the aircraft is equipped with Airborne GPS and IMU systems. This is an emerging workflow that is suitable for remote area mapping.
Close-Range Photogrammetry
History
While the initial release of IMAGINE Photogrammetry was in late 2003, it was a combination of new technology as well as software previously developed by ERDAS. The product evolution is as follows:
2005 - Leica Photogrammetry Suite 8.7 Service Packs 2 and 3
2005 - Leica Photogrammetry Suite 9.0
2006 - Leica Photogrammetry Suite 9.1
2008 - Leica Photogrammetry Suite 9.2
2008 - With the re-branding of "Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging" to "ERDAS", the "Leica Photogrammetry Suite" name was converted to an acronym, "LPS".
