LOW ALTITUDE NON-METRIC PHOTOGRAPHY USING A KITE 
By A. Georgopoulos, 
University College London 
ABSTRACT 
A kite photography system is described, which involves non-metric 
photography and the use of simple instrumentation for processing the data. 
A practical test is described and the results are assessed for their accuracy, 
usefulness and cost effectiveness. 
1. Introduction 
  
During the past few decades, photogrammetry has tried to prove useful in 
numerous areas of application, other than conventional map making, quite often 
with very satisfactory results. Rapid advances in modern technology have 
contributed a great deal to this end, The construction of new types of aircraft, 
the perfection of cameras and other information recording equipment and the 
development of more flexible means for data processing have opened new horizons 
in microphotogrammetry, biostereometrics, space photogrammetry and many other 
fields where accurate measurements are required. 
However, there still are certain areas where limitations of a varied nature 
leave gaps that ought to be filled. One such gap is created by the lack of 
reliable means for acquiring photography at such large scales or, equally, from 
such low altitudes, that either conventional survey aircraft are not allowed to 
fly (due to legal limitations) or it is a technical impossibility to obtain sharp 
images due to high ground speeds of the aircraft (technical limitations). These 
limitations form the upper boundary of this gap, the lower boundary being defined 
by the practical limitations of various ground based systems for hoisting or 
raising the camera. Consequently the term "low altitude" will be used to define 
heights in the range from approximately 10 m to 200 m. 
A system enabling the camera to fly at such low altitudes seems to be the 
solution to the problem. Such a system may well be a sophisticated and expensive 
piece of apparatus, or a simple and cheap, but equally effective one. The term 
"system" is used here to include not only the camera lifting mechanism and the 
camera itself, but also all the procedures employed in data processing up to the 
final map product. Such low altitude systems could be simple bipods, scaffolding, 
masts, cranes, manned or unmanned balloons, model aircraft and helicopters, small 
fixed wing aircraft or helicopters, to name but a few. 
These low altitude photography systems, despite their diversity, possess two 
general characteristics. These are the relatively large scale of the photography 
and the degree of control which the operator has on the camera position. Bearing 
this in mind, together with the fact that some of these systems are of very low 
cost, one can easily understand that these systems will find application in small 
area projects and special case projects which require large scale photography. 
Archaeology is one area where these systems have already proved to be a very useful 
tool. They present a very rapid and elegant way of recording the findings of a 
particular level in an excavation, so that the work may continue without delay. 
Moreover, preservation studies of special settlements may also be immensely aided 
by the immediate record of prevailing circumstances through the provision of a 
large scale base map from low altitude photography. Further fields of application 
include crop growth studies, cadastral survey projects of limited areas, open pit 
mining and industrial and engineering measurement problems. 
2. The kite photography system 
  
Kites, or combinations of kites, may exist in any shape and size. They all 
provide enough lifting power in order to hold the camera airborne. The main 
207