Premium
Digital close range photogrammetry for measurement of soil erosion
Author(s) -
RiekeZapp Dirk H.,
Nearing Mark A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
the photogrammetric record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.638
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1477-9730
pISSN - 0031-868X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9730.2005.00305.x
Subject(s) - photogrammetry , digital elevation model , remote sensing , digital camera , grid , calibration , software , image resolution , erosion , structure from motion , geology , scale (ratio) , range (aeronautics) , computer science , computer vision , geography , geodesy , mathematics , cartography , engineering , geomorphology , statistics , programming language , aerospace engineering , motion estimation
Many of the processes involved in soil erosion have dimensions on the millimetre scale. Modelling and quantification of such processes require information on soil surface topography with adequate resolution. The purpose of this study was to generate digital elevation models (DEMs) from soil surfaces with high spatial and temporal resolution. Digital photogrammetry was applied for measuring erosion rates on complex‐shaped soil surfaces under laboratory rainfall conditions. A total of 60 DEMs were generated, covering a planimetric area of 16 m 2 . The DEMs had a grid resolution of 3 mm. A vertical precision of approximately 1 mm was desired for DEM analysis. A consumer‐grade digital camera was used for image acquisition. The camera was calibrated using BLUH software. Homologous points in overlapping images were identified with least squares matching software. Irregularly spaced object coordinates were interpolated to a regular grid in a geographic information system. The resulting DEMs represented the soil surface well. A precision of 1·26 mm in the vertical was attained. The precision of DEM production was limited to camera calibration. Improvements of the setup presented could include the use of better control points and more advanced image matching strategies for identification of homologous points. The DEMs allowed for detailed analysis of soil surface evolution.