International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 5. Hakodate 1998 
A Three Dimensional Measurement System using Digital Still Camera and RTK-GPS 
Tatsunori SADA, Tomonori TAKADA, Shigeru TONAKI and Takao KAKEHASHI 
Senior Researchers, Technical Research Institute 
Mitsui Construction CO., LTD. 
518-1, Komaki, Nagareyama-city, Chiba, 270-0132 
E-mail: sada@mcc48.mcc.co.jp 
JAPAN 
Commission V , Working Group 2 
KEY WORDS: GPS, Topographic survey, Photogrammetry system 
ABSTRACT 
The authors developed two topographic survey systems which could measure the three dimensional topography of 
earthwork in real-time to improve efficiency of construction. One is a survey system using real-time kinematic GPS (RTK- 
GPS) and we have applied this to the construction survey at more than a hundred sites. And another is a three- 
dimensional measurement system using digital still camera which computes the three-dimensional configuration of 
objects using stereoscopically photographed images taken from a aerial balloon and we have already implemented this 
system at several earthwork sites to estimate the volume of earthwork. However, there are some problems that arise 
when actually carrying out these operations using these technologies, such as mobility and limitations in the survey or 
photographic fields. To solve these problems we combined the RTK system and the three-dimensional measurement 
system using a remote control helicopter. The control points and major cross sections were measured by the RTK system 
in this operation and a remote-control helicopter was applied as a photographing platform in stead of a balloon. 
Comparing the operability of this combined system with other systems, we were able to complete on-site work in about 
one-third of the time compared to the RTK system only, and in about 1/2.5 of the time compared to the measurement 
system using a balloon. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
On-site measurement of earthworks under construction is 
usually carried out either by aerial photogrammetry or 
using multipurpose precision survey instruments such as 
total stations. Despite high survey accuracy attainable by 
use of those instruments, however, this approach involves 
considerable human intervention throughout the process 
from actual measurement to the processing and analysis 
of data obtained, thus making the process labor- and 
time-consuming. There are therefore many problems yet 
to be solved with the current measuring method, such as 
prohibitive costs, need for human intervention and 
insufficient accuracy and numerous attempts have been 
made to develop a practical three-dimensional 
measurement system. 
To solve these problems the authors developed two 
topographic survey systems. One is a survey system using 
real-time kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS) and we have applied 
this to the construction survey at more than a hundred 
sites. And another is a three-dimensional measurement 
system using digital still camera which computes the 
three-dimensional configuration of objects using 
stereoscopically photographed images taken from a aerial 
262 
balloon and have already implemented this system at 
several earthwork sites to estimate the volume of 
earthwork. However there are a number of problems in 
both system, such as mobility and limitation in the survey 
or photographic field. We thus combined both system and 
applied a remote control helicopter instead of aerial a 
balloon. 
2. A NAVIGATION-TYPE SURVEY SYSTEM 
WITH RTK-GPS 
2.1 System Configuration 
The authors developed a GPS navigation-type surveying 
system using real-time kinematic GPS capability. Our 
system, as shown in Figure 1, consists of nine-channel, 
L1/L2, parallel-tracking GPS receiver equipment and a 
GPS antenna, at both the moving point (survey point) and 
the datum point (known coordinates), and a transmitter 
system. With previous kinematic methods, surveyors had 
to survey the datum point and the moving point at the 
same time, pool the surveyed data, and obtain the survey 
results after post-processing. With our new method, the 
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