5A-3-1 
Application of Photogrammetric Image Data 
for Roadway Construction 
Guangping He 
Lambda Tech International, Inc. 
Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA 
he@lambdatech. com 
KEY WORDS: Mobile Mapping System, Image Application, Image Rectification 
ABSTRACT 
Roadway construction requires rapid and complete information on the roadway environment. For this 
challenge, a new attempt has been made by combining the terrestrial images from the GPS Vision mobile 
mapping system with digital aerial images. The GPSVision is a moving platform which captures stereo 
images at regular intervals. The position and orientation of images are provided by the Global Positioning 
System (GPS) and the Inertial Navigation System (INS). After the system is calibrated, every visible feature 
which is seen from two images can be located in a global coordinate system. These features are then used to 
rectify digital aerial images. From the application perspective, the positions and attributes of physical 
facilities, such as rail road signals, traffic signs, road crossing and buildings can be obtained With images in 
hands, a typical client can accurately measure and inspect the infrastructures, can simulate the view as one 
drives down the road and can create complete vector map with detailed view both from the ground and in 
the air. 
1. Introduction 
Generation of the civil infrastructure is an immense 
task. It requires efficiently collecting vast quantities 
of data. New technologies offer opportunities to 
greatly improve our effectiveness. One of the most 
innovative technologies for collecting civil 
infrastructure data is the GPSVision -- a Mobile 
Mapping System developed by Lambda Tech 
International, Inc. It was original designed to help 
governments and other agencies to build interactive 
GIS databases, and now it becomes a standard 
mapping tool for roadway construction and sign 
inventory, it is even used in the court for traffic 
accident analysis. 
The GPSvision mobile mapping system differs itself 
with traditional mapping method mainly by its fast 
data collection speed and its low cost, for example, 
lambda Tech collect and process 2000km road data 
monthly with one GPSVision system. 
The GPSVision acquires highly detailed, multimedia 
data about highways, railroads and other 
transportation networks. It uses the Navstar Global 
Positioning System(GPS), integrated with an Inertial 
Navigation System(INS) along with a state of art 
color CCD cameras The result is that any feature 
(e g. a manhole) which is “seen” by two cameras 
can be precisely located in a global coordinate 
system. 
A GPS receiver determines the global location of 
the system. Depending on the type of the receiver 
and the processing software used, positioning 
accuracy can range from meters to centimeter. 
Because obstructions such bridges, trees, tunnels or 
high rise buildings can interrupt satellite signals, 
GPS alone can not meet the requirement for a 
mobile mapping system. An INS consists of the 
accelerometer and gyroscopes. It is a self contained 
system. It measures the velocity and direction 
changes very accurately for short periods, but its 
error grows rapidly with time. An integration 
solution of GPS and INS can greatly improve the 
system performance GPS is used to update the INS 
system and the INS outputs the accurate position, 
velocity and attitude of the system between the GPS 
updates. 
The stereo vision system consists of two high 
resolution color CCD cameras. It captures stereo 
image pairs while the system drives at posted 
speeds The images are taken according to a