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AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND LEGAL APPLICATIONS
Citation:
Slonecker, E.T. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND LEGAL APPLICATIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-95/119 (NTIS PB96114608).
Description:
Aerial photographic interpretation is the process of examining objects on aerial photographs and determining their significance. t is often defined as both art and science because the process, and the quality of the derived information, is often a qualitative nature and much depends on the training, ability, dedication and imagination of the photo interpreter to make specific identifications and complex inferences. t is difficulty to describe photographic interpretation without also discussing two other related disciplines: photogrammetry and remote sensing. hotogrammetry is defined as the science of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment by measuring photographic images. emote sensing is the broader field of techniques that utilize some type of electromagnetic energy to record information about a target surface without physical contact. hoto interpretation is one of the original forms of remote sensing and probably still one of the most practiced forms, although the use of satellite and aircraft imagining sensors has increased in utilization in the environmental sciences. erial photographs have been used successfully in courtroom proceedings for many years and provide distinct advantages for gathering and presenting information about the earth's surface and its processes. owever extraction useable information from aerial photographs is often more complex than it may seem to those unfamiliar with the technology. his paper will review the basics of aerial photographic interpretation and discuss some of the issues related to its utilization in a legal arena.