‘ARPENTEUR’ AS WEB BASED PHOTOGRAMMETRIC PACKAGE: 
TOWARDS INTEROPERABILITY THROUGH A XML STRUCTURE 
FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRIC DATA 
Pierre Drap', Pierre Grussenmeyer”, Gilles Gaillard? 
'Researcher, CNRS 
MAP-GAMSAU umr CNRS 694, Ecole d’ Architecture, 
184 avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France 
Pierre. Drap@gamsau.archi. fr 
? Assoc. Professor 
ENSAIS-MAP umr CNRS 694 Photogrammetry and Geomatics Group 
24 boulevard de la Victoire, 67 084 Strasbourg Cedex, France 
Pierre.Grussenmeyer@ensais.u-strasbg. fr 
3 Stratos documentation 
Cadenet, 84160, France 
GillesGaillard@compuserve.com 
Commission VI, WG V/4 
KEYWORDS: Cooperation, Interoperability, Updating, Database, Graphics, Internet, Multimedia, Visualisation 
ABSTRACT: 
After a description of the new photogrammetric developments in ARPENTEUR and some examples of the use of the XML 
formalism in the general survey process, we’ll finish this paper by a call to our community to discuss about a generic XML 
structure of photogrammetric data. We aim to develop a public Java™ API to manage photogrammetric data through XML 
files. 
A photogrammetric software package available as an applet on the Internet has been developed in the frame of a project 
called ARPENTEUR (ARchitectural PhotogrammEtry Network Tool for EdUcation and Research) since 1998. It can be 
easily used on the WEB from anywhere all over the world and with whatever operating system in use. Two servers located in 
Marseilles and Strasbourg are available to manage project data. The software package is also a Web based tool since 
photogrammetric concepts are embedded in Web technology and Java™ programming language. 
This project is in constant evolution since 1998, several modelling functionalities and possibilities of importation and 
exportation of data to other applications have been added. 
Since ARPENTEUR version 3.0 (January 2002), XML has been chosen to structure the photogrammetric orientation data and 
to represent the measured data collected during the plotting phase. The aim was to increase interoperability between 
ARPENTEUR and other software packages. 
We propose an XML data structure to represent the data. All photogrammetric data in ARPENTEUR are now stored in XML 
files. This new feature is a convenient way to share data with other applications: 
- . Considering the heterogeneous character of the data to be managed in a photogrammetric survey, XML structuring is a 
good opportunity to federate them in a single document. 
- [tis then possible to elaborate a request on the whole set of data and write a simple and automatic publication in HTML 
or PDF. 
- The document structure is described in a separate file, what allows the user to seek in the document and get only the 
relevant information. 
As the number of software tools is continuously growing, the photogrammetric field is still missing some common way to 
provide simple and efficient way to exchange data. This lack of standardisation leads to a waste of time, energy and 
redundant efforts. As the use of XML formalism has reached a certain level, it appears now as a rational choice. The 
ARPENTEUR team proposes a standard representation of photogrammetric data through XML and will provide a reference 
implementation of it. This proposal is a call to other groups, vendors and colleagues to participate to build such a standard. 
1. GENERAL PRESENTATION OF ARPENTEUR —  Asitis the case for education and research software, the 
JAVA™ development language gives a tool and a 
technology allowing teams working on different sites and 
systems far apart, 
— Asa tool dedicated to architecture, ARPENTEUR profits 
from expertise of two teams in the field of close range 
photogrammetry and representation of architectural 
1.1 ARPENTEUR main objectives 
ARPENTEUR is a web tool dedicated to architectural 
and archaeological survey. It has the benefit of the two 
partner laboratories' expertise in the field of close range 
photogrammetry and architectural knowledge information 
representation in a survey process. This collaboration is = AS a fool de dicated to photogrammetry, ARPENTEUR is 
enriching for both researchers and students working on pnetos IY: ; 
the project a simple system and should be considered as a light 
photogrammetry system, light meaning easy to use as 
The main justifications for the project are following: well as no heavy equipment required. 
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