FAQ

Leica ADS40 Digital Camera
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Q. Does the company own its own aircraft and cartographic aerial camera?
A. Yes, aerial photography is captured with one of our six company owned aircraft, which is configured specifically for aerial mapping.

Q. How do I have a custom flight set up to cover my site?
A. Transmit to us an outline of your site on a USGS, Tax map, road map, or other.

Q. How soon can a photo mission be flown?
A. Normally within 10 days, depending on weather conditions and site suitability.

Q. How soon after the flight can I expect to receive photos with ground control selected and identified?
A. Normally within 3-5 business days for black and white imagery.

Q. What is the turn-around time to deliver completed mapping after receipt of ground control?
A. Depends on the size of the project and the map scale requested. A project manager is assigned to your project who will develop the timeline for completion and delivery of your project.

Q. What is Digital Terrain Modeling (DTM)?
A. A Digital Terrain Model represents a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the earth's surface. A DTM is significantly improved by collecting additional "breaks and spots" (see next question/answer).

Q. What are "breaks and spots"?
A. "Breaks" are horizontal (x,y) plan features (i.e. edge of road, curb, fence line, etc.) and ground terrain changes in slope (top, bottom, crown, etc.) collected with a vertical component (elevation-z). "Spots" are individual ground elevations at selected spots collected to supplement a more complete DTM.

Q. How are plan feature elevations collected?
A. Most of our planimetric features (roads, fences, poles, etc.) are collected at ground level to include elevation (z). Certain features are not collected at ground level such as buildings (roof corners), treelines and other similar elevated features.

Q. What is a TIN?
A. A TIN is a Triangulated Irregular Network wherein each and every point in the DTM with an elevation (z) is interconnected in a one-to-one relationship to any and all other ajoining elevation points.

Q. What is the difference between a digital scan and an Orthophoto?
A. An Orthophoto is scanned imagery that has been rectified from a terrain model. A digital scan is unrectified.

Q. What is a stereo pair?
A stereo pair is a set of overlapping photos that when viewed with a stereoscope produces a three dimensional image.