‘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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