A simple photogrammetric method to improve quantitative image analysis in geoscience research

Sedimentary field surveying uses 2D outcrop images to rapidly and easily ob tain quantitative information. Although photogrammetry is capable of a comp lete and accurate 3D analysis, this technique requires great technical expe rtise, as well as intricate and expensive software and hardware. Rectified digital images, instead, represent a cost-effective and easier method to ob tain accurate 2D images for outcrop modeling and mapping. The present metho dology describes a simple technique to improve quantitative image analysis for outcrop analysis, based on widespread conventional PC software and inex pensive hardware. The proposed methodology treats outcrop digital images with a software deve loped by us in order to salve for colinearity equations, which calculate co ordinates of terrain points. Thus, the geometric correction on the terrain- point coordinates to obtain the rectified images can be done with some comm ercial and widely distributed G.I.S., remote sensing, or photogrammetric pr ograms. The final rectified image represents a metrically consistent perpen dicular view of the outcrop that favors the quantitative image analysis. Th is technique can also be used to improve the photo-mosaicking of different perspective-corrected im ages of the same outcrop, avoiding the usual misfi t of the image frames.