APS is the Menci Software technology for the DTM, contour lines,

orthomosaic, DSM and 3D point cloud automatic generation from aerial

imagery, acquired by any low-altitude UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) with
GPS on board.
The simple and intuitive interface allows the user an immediate interaction
with the features offered.
The workflow, passing through the management of the dataset up to the
generation of the DTM, contour lines , orthomosaic and DSM is easy to be
followed.
Furthermore APS lets the control over results to the user.
The immediate low resolution raster (Overview) allows an easier
identification of the AOI, as well as the ability to evaluate the extents of
specific areas.

Main interfaces:
There are 4 main tabs, each of them has a list of specific commands within it.
This is the Tools Tab, which is subdivided in 6 sections:

Project: through this section you can decide to create a new project or to open one
already processed.
Measure: it is possible to take linear or areal measurement on the orthophoto you
have got.
View: you can check the Footprints of each photogram, the camera position at the
moment of each snap, the image names, the tiles and the sheet layout. (slide over to
see how to generate tiles).
Overview: enabling this command by clicking on a single camera you can check the
linked photogram
Windows: you can decide to enable the command bar and the workflow window.
Help: in project info you can check all the results, otherwise it is possible to consult a
tutorial, get the latest version and send us back your feedback.

This is the CAD Tab, which is subdivided in 4 sections and related functions:

- Import (import a DWG CAD drawing)

selected entities
- Export (export current drawing to DWG / DXF)
entities
- Draw a Point, Polyline, Spline
selected entities
- Insert a Text
current line
- Fill a closed poligon with Hatch
Options
- Call current entity Properties
layers
- Erase selected entities
layers order

- Scale
- Mirror selected
- Rotate
- Trim
- Select CAD
- Manage
- Select

This is the OrthoPhoto Tab, which allows the user to enable an editor such
as Photoshop for applying corrections to your model:

This is the Stereo Tab, which allows the user to export for Menci Stereo Tool
to get stereoscopic view of photograms blocks, and make accurate
measurements and carthographic vectorialization.

NEW PROJECT:
In order to set a new project you need to follow a few easy steps.
1) Choose the reference folder and project name

2) Select the camera passport

When uploading the camera passport if you have the required details you can fill a new one all by
yourself,
In case you need a passport for your camera we can provide it in no time, otherwise if you have a
good dataset
you can even try to extract it by using APS before getting started with a new project, slide over to
know how to do.

APS CAMERA CALIBRATION

To extract the camera passport it is necessary to have a good data set. In order to be considered
good the images have to be at least 26 spread in 4 strips and depicting an area as even as
possible.
If you have this condition you can try to extract a suitable passport by clicking on the green mark
on the left top of the main interface. You will be asked to choose the images along with the
GPS/IMU data recorded by your device. The images can be selected by drawing specific area of
interest, slide over to upload images section (step n4) to see how to do.

3) Insert GPS/IMU data

GPS and IMU data are recorded by your
drone while flying, these informations are
used by APS to geo-locate each image.
This data are listed as Latitude, Longitude
and Height and as yaw, pitch and roll.
Once they are uploaded these will be listed
as afore mentioned, furthermore make sure
you are using the correct camera mounting
for your device.
If the data are correct through the command
COORDINATE SYSTEM you can verify on
Google Earth the exact location of your
survey

4) Upload images
Images can be uploaded either by explorer or
by flight plane, if the second option has
been chosen
you can discard images by drawing with your
mouse specific area of interest (AOI).

If you are not interested in processing the whole

area but just a portion of it you can get rid of
the pointless images.
This can be done by drawing specific area of
interest (AOI), to draw this area you have to
click around the images you want to discard,
then right click to erase them.

5) Choose the suitable algorithm to

bundle

GPU Descriptor Matching:

this algorithm is
rotated.

Descriptor Matching:

this algorithm can be used only if the graphic card has the GPU,
capable to tie images taken at different altitudes or

this algorithm works like the previous one but when computing the data

it proceeds more slowly.

Template Matching:

in order to work properly this algorithm needs a minimum overlap of 80%,

further the flight must be planned with a relative height of 200 m

Optical flow Matching:

it must be used when there are chromatically homogeneous areas,

but in order to work the IMU data has to be available.

Enhanced Descriptor Matching: it can be used when the flight is particularly drifted away
and the GPU algorithm doesnt work as it should.

6) Run the process

To get started with the process you need to click on OK, otherwise you can run the whole procedure
as batch

Once the procedure has begun you are going through five automatic steps, which will lead you
towards the final results.
These five automatic steps can be grouped in a single set named IMAGE PROCESSING.
During the IMAGE PROCESSING the whole set of images is imported at first, then the chosen
algorithm runs in order to find and match all the alike features among the images, these alike
points are known as TIE POINTS.
Once all the features are tied among them the set of images will be packed in a bundle.
Finding and matching features and the bundle procedure are the three main steps, which are the
main processes of aerial triangulation to perform the external orientation.
The five steps can be listed as follows:
-

IMPORT
FIND FEATURES
MATCH FEATURES
BUNDLE ADJUSTEMENT
RASTER OVERVIEW

IMPORT

FIND FEATURES

MATCHING

BUNDLE

RASTER OVERVIEW

The raster overview is the first result coming from

the aerial
triangulation, it is a low resolution raster which is
easy and fast to
consult. At this stage external orientation is done
and images have parameters of orientation
ready for other use.

Through the blue arrow lying beside the

overview button it is possible to consult the
bundle report.
The main feature listed in this report is the RMS
of residuals, this is a weighted average of the
displacement along the X and Y axes for the tie
points found during the bundle adjustment
process compared to their original position.

POSITIONING GCP:
The absolute planimetric and altimetric precision depends on the GPS station mounted in your
device. In order to get a better precision it can be useful to add some ground control point
(GCP). These points are acquired at first by a GPS station, which must be collocated on a
visible point such as a target.
Once you have got all the points homogeneously spread on the interested area, you have to upload
the file in APS.
This file must be set as: ID, Long, Lat, Height.
This set of points needs to be
collimated,
Once you have uploaded your list
of GCP these will be overlaid as
targets to the raster overview, by
clicking on each target you will
start the collimation. The
collimation consists in pointing the
real target for each image
containing that point.
To add a collimation left click of the
mouse, to remove a collimation
right click.
Eventually after running the
evaluate command you will
observe the residual error
occurring for each collimated point.

AOI DEFINITION:
To allow APS to compute data in specific area it is useful to set up an area of interest as tangent as
possible to the flight plane stripes, these are overlaid to the raster overview. To set the area click on
the related button and define it by clicking the four vertexes.
If you want to discard an area
within the afore mentioned AOI you need
to set up an hole by clicking on the related
button.

Once these procedures are done

you can go on in order to get
DTM, ORTHOPHOTO, POINT
CLOUD and DSM

DTM:
The DTM provided by APS has a fifty times step larger than the GSD. It is a model which is related
to the terrain, for this reason the algorithm uses a range of filters to reduce the noise that house
and trees would give to the model.
The DTM is used by APS to generate exclusively the OrthoPhoto.
A final report with all its features is generated and it can be consulted by clicking on the blue
arrow ,through this arrow it is also possible to export the DTM or import it as a model generated
with an other software.
To generate the DTM click on the
following button

Then choose the level of detail,

it goes from very low to high. A
high level is usually used for
open field survey, otherwise a
low level is often used for
populated area .

Contour lines:
Since you have a model such as the DTM, APS allows the user to extract
contour lines.
To get Contour lines click the following button.
Contour lines can be exported as a DWG file through the blue arrow lying beside the afore
mentioned command.

Seam lines:
Each OrthoPhoto is a set of pieces which make a mosaic, these pieces are generated automatically
by clicking on the seam lines command (see above). Each seam line represents the edge of each
piece.
Any seam line can be edited to rectify a certain kind of error witch can occur any time there are
elements with a sudden difference in height compared to the surrounding area, such as Houses
and bridges.
The roof of this house is split by a seam line, the result occurring is a graphic mistake as the
OrthoPhoto gets generated. By clicking on the lower pane it is possible to enlarge its area of
interest and include the roof. By following this way the mistake gets corrected.

ORTHOPHOTO:
Once the DTM has been done it is possible to get an OrthoPhoto of the surveyed area, an
OrthoPhoto is nothing but a set of images whose projective rays are parallel to each other. This
allows the user to get a product planimetrically correct.
To get an OrthoPhoto click on the following button:
The related window will be opened to set all
the parameters which will be considered
during the construction.
These are:
- Ground sample distance (this value is
automatically obtained from the flight
height and camera sensor)
- Radiometric Balancing
- Set up Tiles (slide over to see how to do)
Once the OrthoPhoto is ready a report
listing all the related information will be
generated, it is available through the blue
arrow lying beside the command
OrthoPhoto.

ORTHOPHOTO: setup Tiles

Before running the
OrthoPhoto procedure if you
want to split the area It is
possible to set up a number
of tiles through the following
window.
Through the button pick you
are going to set the origin of
your first tile, then it will be
necessary to set Width and
Height and according to the
areal extension a number of
tiles will be created.

POINT CLOUD & DSM

Point cloud and DSM are gained all in once, you have to set the DSM step at first so that a point
cloud will be generated with that defined step, after that the DSM will be developed with the same
step.
The minimum step is five times the GSD, further the user will be asked to fill holes, this allows to
interpolate the points when some points cant be recognized during the point cloud generation.

POINT CLOUD
The point cloud is a set of points, each of them can contain both geographic and RGB information.
The point cloud can be exported as file ASCII by clicking on the blue arrow.

DSM
The DSM is a surface model, during its creation no filter is applied and the result is a model that
takes into account every single object laid on the surface such as houses and trees

POINT CLOUD & DSM: report

Alike to the other results even for POINT CLOUD and DSM it is possible to
consult a report.

STEREO TOOL
Through APS it is possible to enable the Menci module Stereo Tool by
exporting the project.

StereoTools is a standing alone software and can be used for blocks of

oriented images.
The only condition is that these pictures have a sufficient overlap to obtain
the stereoscopic view.
Once you are working with stereo tool you can draw points and lines in a CAD
environment, eventually you can export them as a file DWG.

For any additional

information
Please contact us:
www.menci.com