TopoFlight
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TopoFlight is a three-dimensional
flight planning Flight planning is the process of producing a flight plan to describe a proposed aircraft flight. It involves two safety-critical aspects: fuel calculation, to ensure that the aircraft can safely reach the destination, and compliance with air t ...
software for photogrammetric flights. Originally conceived by a team of experts in the mapping industry, it has been in use since 2003. The program is used to facilitate the planning of flight lines with the help of a
Digital Terrain Model A digital elevation model (DEM) or digital surface model (DSM) is a 3D computer graphics representation of elevation data to represent terrain or overlaying objects, commonly of a planet, Natural satellite, moon, or asteroid. A "global DEM" refer ...
(DTM), to document the flight plan and transfer it into the flight management system of the camera (for instance SoftNav, TrackAir, ASCOT or CCNS4), to calculate the costs of photogrammetric flight and subsequent photogrammetric products with the aid of
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as well as flight parameters, and to complete the post checking of a flight (flying height, length overlap, and side lap). Coordinates that have been calculated can be exported to be used during flight. TopoFlight is able to work with frame, line, and
LIDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...
sensors. the software is at version 10.5.3.


History from 2003–2015

*Released in April 2015 The TopoFlight Mission Planner has been upgraded to version 9.5. TopoFlight does use the edge of the image to calculate side overlap and length overlap. It actually calculates over the whole covered area by photos. It is easier now to plan the flights with cameras, sensors and LiDAR systems. Maps can be directly downloaded from Google into TopoFlight with user selectable resolution. Due to a change in Google’s API, the Google Maps Tool in the TopoFlight Program had to be adapted. Improvements, like enhanced calculation of side lap, importing from TIFF DTM, importing of XYZOPK files for quality control and many other features have been completed. Large flight plans in fairly flat areas can be computed much faster now by switching OFF the ‘Precise Calculation' option. Version 7 *Released in May 2009 *In 2008 at the International Congress on Geomatic and Surveying Engineering in Valencia, Spain, Professor Jorge Delgado (specializing in cartographic engineering, geodesy and photogrammetry) from the University of Jaen in Spain as well as Klaus Budmiger (of Flotron AG) et al. presented an oral presentation concerning the TopoFlight flight planning system (''see contribution 22 at the International Congress on Geomatic and
Surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...
Engineering'') Version 6 * Version 6 moved from a
32 bit 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
to a 64 bit system. Version 6 Beta was released for testing in January 2008. It was available to existing users for testing in February. By April of that year, it was still not fully operational. There were issues with the
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
and
longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...
with respect to measurements in feet that had to be corrected. Eventually v.6 would allow for constant latitude calculations as well as:
Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...
export, more data formats, new projection management, faster calculation of overlap between strips, use of .prj files, LIDAR
flight planning Flight planning is the process of producing a flight plan to describe a proposed aircraft flight. It involves two safety-critical aspects: fuel calculation, to ensure that the aircraft can safely reach the destination, and compliance with air t ...
, automatic checking over the internet if a new version is available, and downloading it, licensing with
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hardlocks (Aladdin), and coordinate grid display. By May 2008 the full version was operational and being distributed. Version 5 * 2007 saw the advent of Version 5 of TopoFlight. It allowed for projections to be made using the
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) is a map projection system for assigning Geographic coordinate system, coordinates to locations on the surface of the Earth. Like the traditional method of latitude and longitude, it is a horizontal positi ...
(UTM). DTM importing functions began to be addressed with this version as it was not possible to import DEM data without reprojecting it as DTM first. Version 5 could only plan in projected coordinates but could output the flight lines and image centers to lat/long. Input required a text file with projected coordinates (like UTM). These issues were going to be changed for v.6. * Another issue that was encountered in v. 5 that needed to be addressed was the impossibility to perform flight planning by filling a "horseshoe shaped" area of interest. The break line tool had to be used line per line to modify the new lines to the desired area of interest manually. After this, an enumeration could be performed. Version 4 * Version 4 was the first version available for sale to the public. Version 1 * In 2003 the first version of TopoFlight was created mainly for internal use by specialized, technical professionals.


File formats

TopoFlight works with multiple layers. The generated flight plans are stored in the widely used "shape format" (ESRI/ARC VIEW). Additional maps can be attached as reference files. These maps include: * Topographic maps *Project area *Existing control points *Flight navigation maps The reference files can be in the following formats: *SHAPE from
ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., doing business as Esri (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company headquartered in Redlands, California. It is best known for ...
*DXF from
AutoCAD AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software application developed by Autodesk. It was first released in December 1982 for the CP/M and IBM PC platforms as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics control ...
*DGN from Mirostation *TIFF with tfw- header for all raster files


Features

Best fit flying height – Calculation of the best flying height to achieve the desired image scale as well as minimum and maximum image scales for given flying height. Coordinate transformations – Transformation of the coordinates from the local grid to another system (such as WGS84). Calculation of image centers – calculation of coordinates of each image with image scales and overlap. Calculation of the effective covered area by the images of each strip Area of side lap – Calculation of the side lap between two neighboring flight lines. Calculation of costs – Calculation of costs of flight and photogrammetric products which can be transferred into Excel. Custom forms can be later defined. List of coordinates – Transfer of the flight parameters to Excel. Custom forms can later be defined. Ground control points – The coordinates of existing ground control points can be imported and annotated. They can also be placed with a mouse click to show the surveyor where to paint and measure a new ground control point. Exporting the flight plan – The plot can be exported either through SHAPE files, DXF format, or in TIFF format with a TFW header file. Transfer to flight management system – coordinates can be exported to ASCOT, CCNS, or TrackAir. Check overlap for aerial triangulation – Check if the minimal overlap is achieved over the whole strip area. Create image indexes – The coordinates of image centers, stored in a text file can be read by TopoFlight.


Users

TopoFlight is currently in use in 19 countries including the United States, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Austria, Italy and others.


See also

*
Aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...
*
Aerial survey Aerial survey is a method of collecting geomatics or other imagery data using airplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicle, UAVs, Balloon (aeronautics), balloons, or other aerial methods. Typical data collected includes aerial photography, Li ...
*
Orthophoto An orthophoto, orthophotograph, orthoimage or orthoimagery is an Aerial photography, aerial photograph or satellite imagery geometrically corrected ("orthorectified") such that the scale is uniform: the photo or image follows a given map p ...
*
Photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...
* Photomapping *
Remote Sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...
*
Topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...


References


TopoFlight Web Page

International Congress on Geomatic and Surveying Engineering
(Contribution 22)
Budmiger, K, Delgado J, and Perez J. Planificacion y Control de la Calidad de Vuelos Fotogrametricos. "El Sistema TopoFlight." Spain, 2006.


{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106173545/http://www.gim-international.com/news/id2502-TopoFlight_included_in_Filanda_Flight_Planning_Tool.html , date=2011-01-06 Photogrammetry Aerial photography Flight planning Software features 3D graphics software Lidar