The Digital National Framework and Digital Photogrammetry at Ordnance Survey

Abstract

Over recent months the Ordnance Survey, Britain's national mapping agency, has changed the way in which it uses photogrammetry to update its large scales topographic database. The nature of the database itself has also changed during the same period, as the concept of a “Digital National Framework” has developed. This paper describes the Digital National Framework, the topographic data captured by Ordnance Survey within this framework and the capture methods currently used. The paper concentrates on the use of photogrammetry in the update process, describing the methods of the past, the methods currently in production, and the outlook for photogrammetry within the Ordnance Survey in future.