Photogrammetry Instruction In A Civil Engineering Technology Curriculum

At the Pennsylvania College of Technology, we feel that tools of project design and management such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) should be taught along with the more usual subjects in a Civil Engineering Technology curriculum. Such a tool is Photogrammetry, where the actual image of the ground, ortho-rectified to remove distortion, due to lens irregularities, film distortion and primarily to displacement of image because of elevation differences, is used as a layer in a GIS. Students learn the use of aerial imagery to construct coordinated Digital Terrain Models (DTM), from which mapping can be derived for project planning and construction management. Our portfolio includes associate’s degrees in both Civil Engineering Technology (CT) and Surveying Technology (SUT), both ABET accredited, and a new bachelor’s program in Civil Engineering Technology with emphasis in Surveying (BCT). Photogrammetry is a required course in both the SUT and BCT degrees and can be taken as an elective in the CT program. The use of GIS is taught to students in all degrees. A more advanced course in Land Use/Information is part of the BCT program. The Photogrammetry course is in the lecture/lab format, where theoretical discussions are reinforced by assignments on both our analog Kelsh and analytical Zeiss P-3 plotters. The assignments require teams of two students to perform relative and absolute orientation/scaling on the Kelsh plotter to produce a manuscript with contours from which a fair drawn map is made. The same teams perform interior, relative and absolute orientation/scaling on the Zeiss P-3 analytical plotter. Their product, a DTM, is then handled through ASCII and .DXF file protocols in much the same way as ground surveying data to produce a fair drawn map with contours and scale in the appropriate State Plane Coordinate System (NAD83). This paper discusses instruction and performance of laboratories in this course.