International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 5. Hakodate 1998 
PROGRAMMING AN IMAGE DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR USE INSIDE A 
CAD-ENVIRONMENT 
Claus Lichtenberg, Dipl.-Ing. 
Guenter Pomaska, Prof. Dr.-Ing. 
FH Bielefeld, University of Applied Sciences 
Faculty of Architecture & Civil Engineering 
Artilleriestrasse 9, D - 32427 Minden, Germany 
E-mail: gp@imagefact.com 
Comission V, Working Group V/2 
KEY WORDS: Image database, Managing photogrammetric images, Database management foundations, 
CAD 
ABSTRACT 
This article explains the basic concepts of developing an image database to use inside a CAD-Environment. 
Beside general techniques and requirements on a database, special requirements raised from 
photogrammetric images will be discussed. Further more we will introduce the image database and the way 
it work's. 
Der Beitrag behandelt grundlegende Konzepte zur Entwicklung einer Bilddatenbank innerhalb einer 
CAD-Umgebung. Neben der Darstellung genereller Anforderungen und Techniken der 
Datenbankentwicklung, werden auch die sich bei der Verwaltung photogrammetrischer Bilddaten 
ergebenden Besonderheiten diskutiert. Darüber hinaus wird die Funktionsweise der Bilddatenbank 
vorgestellt. 
1. PREFACE 
The permanent developement in photogrammetric 
technologie and the increasing trend to digital image 
analysis presume high qualitiy computer hardware. In 
case of permanently decreasing costs for computer 
haräware you find more and more efficient 
workstations which are able to solve complex 
photgrammetric requirements. Getting high qualitiy 
images with extensive data information is one of the 
major aspects by planing a photogrammetric project. 
In general the backup and the mangement of the 
images and their data achieves only a few 
consideration. 
In some cases this might be okay because in general 
the images exist as a photo or slide and the 
corresponding data can be rebuild with a program. 
This point of view might be correct in case of small 
projects with only a few pictures and data. In greater 
projects the reconstruction and analysis of the images 
and their data often tend to take a lot of time and thus 
costs. 
Wouldn't it be nice under this circumstances to have 
a tool that offers the ability to store images with their 
data so that you have easy access to the requiered 
information at any time? 
The image database tries to attend this claim. The 
programming language used to develope the image 
230 
database was Borland Delphi 2.0. For the database 
management we choosed the Paradox format 
because it's part of the Delphi package. Another 
reason for the decision on Paradox was that this 
database concept was originally introduced by 
Borland and so the Delphi package offers a native 
database driver with good performance. For the CAD 
environment we selected AutoCAD Realease 13 from 
Autodesk. The fundamentals of the image database 
and the way it works will be discussed further on. 
2. REQUIREMENTS ON PROGRAMMING 
AN IMAGE DATABASE 
2.1 General Requirements 
Before you start implementing a database you have 
to have a close look on the data and their structures 
which should be managed. Furthermore you have to 
keep in mind the outfit and appearance of the 
program. 
While the outfit and appearance of the program is 
determined by general requirements the data storing 
and database conception is determined by special 
requirements which will be discussed later on. 
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