The analysis of earthwork and slope deterioration from aerial photographs

Roads, railways and coastlines are all large scale linear features usually incorporating many earthworks. These earthworks are subject to deterioration and may fail causing serious problems. A significant number of these failures could be prevented if all earthworks were monitored frequently and early signs of deterioration nated so that improvements could bemade. Inspections on food, however, are verry costly and time consuming and therefore are rarely undertaken, on a frequent basis. A technique, known as ECAT, to monitor earthworks and provide information for their repair has been developed at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The analysis procedure employed is designed to be used on linear features, when many earhqworks have to be evaluated quickly and inexpensively, and concise information about their location and cause of deterioration is required. The technique used to record earthworks and a description of the analysis procedure is provided, with an example showing the results of the analysis. (AU)

DFIRMs = Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps with digital orthophoto base maps

Digital prothophotos are aerial photographs that have been digitally processed and corrected, pixel by pixel, to remove all distortions so they have the metric properties of a map. They have no contour lines. Until displayed on a geographic information system, or a hardcopy print is made, they have no scale. This variable scale opens the door for cost-sharing among government agencies for the development and maintenance of a common photobase which is standardized and interoperable. Cost-sharing reduces the costs for all involved and accelerates the availability of digital orthophotos for everyone. This paper discusses advantages, disadvantages, and option for using DOQs as base maps for DFIRMs so as to improve the horizontal accuracy of DFIRMs and enable simple and direct horizontal determination of individual buildings as either in or out of flood hazard zones

Fotografía básica en el Mount St. Helens y otros volcanes de la cordillera Cascades

Durante la pasada década, los Observadores del Observatorio Vulcanológico Cascades (CVO) en Vancouver, Washington han tomado miles de fotografías el Mount St. Helens y áreas circundantes y cientos de otras en otros volcanes de la cordillera Cascades. Han usado muchos tipos de cámaras fotográficas. Las cámaras son una de las herramientas más versátiles y útiles disponibles para documentar cambios alrededor de los volcanes. Las cámaras fijas toman una foto a la vez que se pueden clasificar según el tamaño de la película en formato pequeño, mediano y grande. También hay una cámara fija instantánea que produce una imagen de 30 segundos o menos. Las cámaras cinematográficas y de video son usadas para muchas de las mismas aplicaciones que las cámaras fijas son especialmente útiles para la fotografía oblicua y terrestre. (AU)

Video superimposition of skulls and photographic portraits - A new aid to identification

The use of antemortem photographic records of facial features in the identification of human skeletal remains has been well established over the past 40 years. In the identification process, establishing the correct enlargement factor of the photograph to the skull is a critical factor. The enlargement of the photograph to "life size" must be accurate if facial features are to be accurately superimposed. This enlargement factor has been based on the linear measurements of fabric on the victim, items within a room in which the photograph portrait was taken, or the focal length of the camera lens.The aim of this paper is to describe in detail this technique, using video equipment, to enlarge antemortem photographs and then superimpose these on the video picture of the skull of the suspected deceased person (AU)

Photographs of the human face and broken projective symmetry

The exact projective symmetry manifested in photographs is broken if the object is not flat. It has been found that front view perspectives of the human face, photographed with limited variations in camera angle (within 30 degrees) show a breaking projective symmetry sufficiently small to be considered for accurate comparison. As a practical implementation of this new approach, a computer - controlled video camera superimposition technique has been developed and demostrated in the identification of a disguised human face (AU)

A study on the standard for forensic anthropologic identification of skull - image superimposition

By means of X ray photography tests were made of 224 (100 males and 124 females) volunteer Chinese adults of han nationality to study the related regular patterns of superimposed projection of face landmarks onto the skull. On the basis of these tests, the present article reveals from a forensic antropology angle the related regular patterns of plane projection of the human face with its skull. Study shows that there exist a strict individual identity and exclusiveness in relation between the human face and skull (AU)

The positioning and magnification of faces and skulls for photographic superimposition

In the identification of persons living or dead, or of skulls, the technique of photographic superimposition of laboratory images on existing original portraits has frequently been used. The applicability of the technique and the confidence in the results have always depended very much on the professional acceptance and experience of forensicspecialists. Defined preconditions, improved methods and clear-cut directions on how to posture the head or the skull and how to magnify its photographic laboratory image, not only help to standardize and simplify procedures, but also increase the accuracy and credibility of the resulting diagnoses (AU)