What is photogrammetry?
In simple terms, photogrammetry is a method of creating maps and extracting spatial information from photographs. When a site or building is captured from multiple positions, the images can be processed to create orthophotos, point clouds, and realistic 3D models of the existing environment. This connection between photography, spatial data, and 3D modeling makes photogrammetry useful in architectural and engineering design.
Today, this Reality Capture method is much more accessible thanks to technologies such as drones. How does IPA - Architecture and more use it? Using specialized equipment, the team defines a flight path for the area to be captured. The flight itself may take only 10 to 15 minutes and provides detailed information about the terrain, buildings, and existing elements of the site. The resulting data complements the information used in geodesy and site terrain modeling.
Can this Reality Capture method provide more detail than standard digital maps?
Yes. One of its main advantages is the much higher level of detail it can provide. While a pixel in conventional digital mapping may represent approximately one meter, photogrammetric imagery can provide detail at the centimeter scale. This makes it possible to identify and document elements such as manholes, curbs, and other features of the existing environment.
The technology produces not only an orthophoto, but also a point cloud that can be used to create a realistic 3D model of the captured site or building. This process forms part of the broader Reality Capture and Scan-to-BIM workflow, in which information about existing conditions becomes a digital basis for further analysis, design, reconstruction, and modeling. IPA’s current service page describes Reality Capture and Scan-to-BIM precisely in this context.
Benefits and applications
Photogrammetry can support investors, construction companies, and urban planning authorities in a range of situations, including planning large areas, renovating or adding new facilities within industrial sites, and accurately positioning a new building in a densely developed urban environment.
Orthophotos allow architects to assess how new project elements will fit into the existing context, while 3D visualization specialists can create realistic representations of future buildings within an accurate three-dimensional environment.
When used to create as-built 3D models, photogrammetry can also provide a basis for developing a Digital Twin, where the digital model is expanded with information about the building, its systems, materials, equipment, and operation.
