Pictometry FAQ

 - What is Pictometry? 
 - How do I order Pictometry? 
 - What does oblique mean? 
 - What is the advantage of Pictometry? 
 - What makes Pictometry images different from traditional aerial photography or satellite imagery? 
 - How accurate is Pictometry? What are some of the specific applications for Pictometry? 
 - Can I 'zoom in' on images for more detailed information? 
 - Can I link my existing mapping and GIS to Pictometry? 
 - Can the images be annotated? 
 - What coordinate systems does Pictometry support? 
 - What are the requirements for each client workstation?

What is Pictometry?

Pictometry is a patented information system, developed by Pictometry International, that allows users to have high-resolution images from multiple views at the click of a mouse. Pictometry empowers users to make measurements from oblique images.

How do I order Pictometry?

To order Pictometry, email us or call us on 07 3620 3111 or 0427 729 942.  Call us about a 1 month trial!

What does oblique mean?

Oblique is the technical term used to describe an aerial photograph that is taken at an angle. This means that a feature, such as a house, building, street light, fire hydrant etc. can be seen in its entirety, rather than the conventional top down (orthogonal) perspective of aerial photography.

What is the advantage of Pictometry?

Pictometry offers significant advantages compared to traditional overhead photography by taking previously complex technologies, adding a wealth of new features, and then making it affordable and easy-to-use. The result is a new revolutionary way to use aerial imaging.

What makes Pictometry images different from traditional aerial photography or satellite imagery?

There are many aspects of Pictometry that are dynamically changing the use of visual information systems and how organizations think about aerial imaging:

1. Georeferenced oblique images – Pictometry has broken new ground on providing metric oblique images that are accurately georeferenced down to the pixel level.

2. Instant recognition of any location – Because of their oblique nature, Pictometry images are presented from a view we are all used to seeing. Oblique simply means; images taken at an angle.

3. Easy and intuitive – Pictometry has been designed to be both powerful and easy to use. With very little training, operators can become immediately productive with Pictometry's measurement tools.

4. Intelligent Images™ – Pictometry’s all-digital, fully georeferenced images include all the data necessary to use the images without any required knowledge of coordinates, datums or projection systems. A user needs only to double click on an image and the Pictometry system does the rest.

5. High-resolution – Pictometry’s digital aerial photos allow viewers to see detailed information of building and land attributes such as doors, windows, number of floors, building composition, roads, trees, and many features, yet they cannot be used to identify people or read license plates.

How is Pictometry used?

There are endless applications for Pictometry. In essence, Our Limit is Your Imagination™. From emergency management agencies to engineering firms, community planning agencies and transportation departments: Pictometry provides visual information that lets you see everywhere, measure anything, and plan everything™.

How accurate is Pictometry?

Pictometry is designed as a reference tool where suvey measurements are not required, but there is a critical need for visual data to provide vital information that can help save time, resources, and lives.

For example, in an emergency situation, such as a fire, a police action, ambulance emergency responses, arriving at centimetre accuracy to respond to a life-threatening situation is not needed.

Pictometry has proven itself to be a valuable tool that enables public safety professionals to better understand the situation they are responding to with an easy-to-use visual tool that gives them enough information to quickly and more effectively respond to any given situation.

For law enforcement it may mean knowing what the building measurements are during a hostage situation. For fire officials, Pictometry can be used to measure the height of an elevator shaft for placement of ladders and hoses. For search and rescue or medical response units, it may be finding and measuring a ravine where an accident has taken place. In all these situations, the ability to obtain measurements quickly and easily can potentially make the difference between a successful rescue and a tragic outcome.

For engineering, transportation, utility, planning, and architectural applications, Pictometry enhances the pre-inspection process with a better visual inspection of buildings and properties that can save time and resources. For example, Pictometry can help engineering, architectural, planning, and surveying teams to know before they arrive on site, what environmental factors, conditions, obstacles, and other potential hindrances might be at the site that could prevent a successful survey. Using printed images from Pictometry, surveyors can more easily and quickly locate their survey points.

Pictometry images integrate well with survey datasets to present even more advanced project concepts.

What are some of the specific applications for Pictometry in these environments?

Pictometry provides a powerful tool that can help multiple organizations, departments and agencies save valuable time, money, and resources. In the case of emergency response personnel, the ability to respond with accurate information can save not only time and resources, but potentially lives as well. The following are just a few of the many key applications where Pictometry adds value:

Law Enforcement:
 - Identify staging and surveillance areas
 - Search, raid, and seizure planning
 - Photo documentation for search warrant applications
 - Traffic control analysis, evacuation planning, and routing
 - Land/air coordination in search and rescue efforts
 - Setup foot chase/crime-in-progress perimeters in seconds
 - Turn night into day - winter into summer
 - Historical archiving and accident reconstruction
 - Logistical analysis
 - Statistical mapping

Fire Departments:
 - Preplan responses for major structures and facilities
 - Locate and establish field command centres 
 - Measure hose distance from water sources and hydrants to fire
 - Zoom in and inspect structural composition, roof layout, and access points
 - Access structural inventories such as sprinklers and hazardous material lists
 - View impact of wind direction on neighbourhood for potential evacuations
 - Integrate third-party data such as plume impact
 - Send coordinates of house numbering systems to MDTs in vehicles en route

Emergency Response
 - Instantly view multiple images of caller location at time of call
 - View alternate traffic routes to incidents
 - View each address from multiple angles for entry and escape points
 - Measure height, length, and width of buildings
 - Provide remote guidance on location of electrical wires and other obstacles that might impair equipment or helicopter access
 - Integrate third-party information such as dispatch software and records management systems
 - Monitor foot chases through visual clues and provide assistance to officers on the scene
 - Using visual clues, help identify true location of incidents that are called in that may not be the actual incident area.
 - Ensure that manpower and resource deployment match the situation

Engineering, Transportation and Utilities 
 - Highlight and coordinate new roadway or other construction sites, schedules, and progress with drawing tools
 - Inspect and pre-plan new developments before sending out survey crews
 - Import data from GIS and other sources for asset location of water mains, electrical distribution systems, and zoning information
 - View adjoining properties for impact
 - Automatically calculate acreage or square footage
 - Review properties for planning rights of way and easements

Can I "zoom in" on these images for more detailed information?

Yes. Pictometry gives you the ability to zoom in and out of all images. However, the term “zoom in” can be very misleading in discussions regarding privacy issues.

Can I link my existing mapping and GIS to Pictometry?

Yes. Pictometry software can overlay shape GIS data directly on top of both oblique and orthogonal images as well as display a wide variety of other vector data. Also plug ins are available to integrate Pictometry imagery in ESRI, MapInfo, GE Smallworld, and other GIS software packages.

Can the images be annotated?

Yes. Pictometry provides a number of annotation tools as well as allowing the users to attach and geolocate other documents or files, such as a Word or Excel document or even a corresponding image or video from another source.

What coordinate systems does Pictometry support?

Internally, Pictometry works in WGS84 lat/lon. However, Pictometry support international and national standard coordinate systems on-the-fly.

What are the requirements for each client workstation?

There are not many specific requirements. Pictometry’s software will run on most Windows platforms. Pictometry specifically tests compatibility with Windows NT, XP and 2000.