ORTHOPHOTOGRAPHY: What is it?
This is achieved by a complex computer process which corrects the distortions in vertical aerial photography. This method, in turn, allows the creation of a seamless, digital photographic image of the whole course with the equivalent accuracy of a conventional map but also preserving the information content of the original series of aerial photographs.
For the technically minded -- golfer or non-golfer -- a digital orthophotograph is produced with the help of a state-of-the-art laser scanner. This converts a photographic image, in print or transparency, into pixels, in other words digital information in the form of picture elements. Simon Clough, systems supremo at Photomaps, explains further. "This is aerial photography, but not as we have come to know it. Stereo pictures are scanned to a high resolution -- each file is 465 megabytes -- with all the distortion ironed out."
In effect, the golfer is being offered a St Andrews scanorama of Hell Bunker, the Valley of Sin and all the other legendary hazards from a unique vantage point.
With the orthophoto image in digital form, it is possible to create a mosaic of multiple images (four in the case of St Andrews). Individual colours can be isolated and enhanced, for instance to highlight the tees and greens. The shadows can even be removed from bunkers. Text and graphics can be manipulated and/or overlaid.
The use of orthophoto data can also have multi-media applications. As already indicated, the creation of an orthophoto is a digital process wherein each feature represented acquires three-dimensional co-ordinates. Models produced using this technique may be used as a three-dimensional database for walk through imagery. A prominent Japanese software manufacturer has just concluded an agreement with Photomaps to acquire the necessary data for producing just such a computer game over the Old Course.
A further application of the technology lies in the production of course guides from the original photography. In effect, Photomaps zooms in on all the individual golf holes to create images on which are overlaid essential pieces of information for the golfer. Distances from the tee and to the green are delineated, while all the tees, greens, bunkers and other hazards are located with unprecedented precision. Working with the St Andrews Links Trust, Photomaps is at an advanced stage of preparation of hole-by-hole guides to five courses -- the Old, New, Jubilee, Eden and Strathtyrum.
The finished St Andrews product illustrated on this Website is available in two versions: folding and wall map at a scale of 1:3000 and 1:2500 respectively. Photomaps scalers are provided with the wall maps to allow golfers to measure the length of the shot that made their day at St Andrews.
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