A lot of off-line work had to be done to turn what was caught on film into a geographic resource. This traditional view is now being challenged. A new technology is available which brings together the previously separate disciplines of photogrammetry, data modeling, and cartography, resulting in a unified flowline for the production of maps, charts, and the geospatial data.
Images can update the database.
The database can overlay features on existing imagery. You can view the results of the modeling in 3D or as a cartographic representation. Uniquely, the whole process occurs within the same data model, on the same screen, via the same user interface. This is a considerable improvement on what went before. In the past, the photogrammetry operator had to digitize features, then export the linework in a standard commercial format such as DGN or DXF, then import those files into a GIS to generate topology.