New Version 4.13 available as of May 5th.
- DMC II 230 & DMC II 250 issues fixed, Thanks to Paul.
Download here:
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History:
changes in Version 4.12 available as of March 27th.
- Optech CS-15000 camera included
- Optech CS-10000 camera included
- IGI DigiTHERM 50 mm included
- Trimble aerial camera fixed
changes September 14th:
- Trimble TAC80MP
New Version 4.11 available as of October 22th
- Visionmap A3 Edge included
- IGI DigiTHERM included
changes September 14th:
- Trimble TAC80MP
Changes in Version 4.10
- Microsoft/Vexcel Ultracam Eagle
- SLRTrack
- Icaros IDM 600 digital mapper
- IGI DigiCam H22
- Leica RCD30 digital aerial camera
- Leica ADS80 High Resolution Mode
- Trimble Aerial Camera
Changes in Version 4.7 – 14 SEP 2010
- improved installation (32/64 bit)
- Visual Intelligence Iris One Hi5 & Hi5-16
Changes in Version 4.7. – 02 AUG 2010:
- Icaros IDM 200 Digital Mapper included
- Remembers your camera
- calibrated focal lenght
calibrated/actual focal length & camera lock
We also display now the area covered by neat images/models, which can be useful for ortho proposals.

(Thanks to Arim & Dr. Zhragai from Icaros, Lyndon from Australia and Shastry from India.)
As always, your comments & ideas to improve the calculator are appreciated.
Update your GSD calculator to latest version using the Update Check button or download it here.

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Changes in Version 4.5:
- SpectraView 12W-MS sensor from Airborne Data Systems included
-
IGI DigiCam QUATTRO 227 added.
(Thanks to Joe from Stellacore Copr. and David from Airborne Data Systems)
Some users reported problems when installing the exe. I have also included now some .NET file stuff into the installer. Please report any problems.
Changes in Version 4.4:
-
DMC II 250 - (DMC
®
II
250)
-
DMC II 230 - (DMC
®
II
230)
-
DMC II 140 - (DMC
®
II
140)
-
Visionmap A3
-
Geoniss Digital Aerial Sensor
-
Guacamaya aerial camera system
-
RMK DX (DMC-II) digital aerial sensor included. - (RMK DX
TM)
System Requirements
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributable (x86)
- download from Microsoft: (English) (Espanol) (Deutsch) - Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
- download from Micorosft: (English) (Espanol) (Deutsch)
GSD Calculator
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How it works:
screenshot_GSD_Calculator
Digital Aerial Camera:
Input your desired values into the yellow boxes, e.g. the requested GSD (Ground Sampling Distance) and press CALCULATE

The calculator show up some technical information about the selected camera:

total pixel, pixel size, focal length, type of CCD, e.g. pan sharpening, push brrom (line scanner) or Bayer pattern type, the altitude of flight for the selected camera above Ground (AGL).
It also compares to the photo scale on a scanned aerial film based on a 20 µm & 12.5 µm scan. More detailed information about film versus digital “scale” can be obtained in the AERIAL FILM SECTION of the program.,
Product scale is the final scale when the digital image is displayed on a computer screen, as used for quality inspection in the flight department or finally in the restitution department.
The middle section of the screen will show covered area, swath .

You can change the overlap values (yellow box) to your required overlap. According to the speed of the aircraft (Groundspeed GS in kts) the software checks for the camera cycle. In case your camera has a cycle longer than 3 sec. you may have to take care in-flight about speed, reduce Groundspeed etc. Note: Groundspeed includes the influence of wind, Airspeed (IAS, TAS) not.
You will also get information about Forward Motion or Image Motion. In case your camera has no Forward Motion Compensation FMC (or TDI) the image quality will be reduced because of image smear. The Image Motion is a function of Groundspeed and Altitude (scale/GSD).
For quotation purposes, the number of photos per kilometer or Nautical Mile is on display for persons who make the quotes according line kilometers and/or number of images.
Area sizes per image are calculated for the image and for the stereo model and will provide an idea how much area is covered by a single photo or stereo model.

The right hand section is designed to make a brief proposal. You can input in the yellow boxes the area dimensions of a rectangular area to be photographed and also the distance from your airport of operation to the target area.

The white section will provide an overview about the amount of flight lines and photos, distance to the area, and will estimate the amount of flying hours you probably need to cover the area of interest, based on the selected camera and Groundspeed of the aircraft.

COPY TO CLIPBOARD allows copying the content of the calculation into the clipboard for further use in Outlook, Word or other software.
SCREENSHOT of PROGRAM sends a copy of the screen to the clipboard for further use.
ESTIMATE MAPPING ACCURACY will display the estimated mapping accuracy achievable from the selected GSD, camera and other parameters.

In normal operational conditions, the accuracy will be less or degraded. In other words: Your result will be less accurate than this estimation in operation. The accuracy, especially in z (height) is related to a variety of surrounding factors.
The accuracy is of course related to the instruments you use, but not only. For example, a DMC or UltraCam, an Applanix POASAV 510 or IGI AEROcontrol IId will provide about the same accuracies under laboratory conditions. In a survey flight, the accuracy is much more related to other factors, for example the way how to make survey turns, the distance to a GPS reference Station, how to process the data using GPS post processing software, cycle slips, Ground Control Points, flight line layout, atmospheric conditions and much more.
(In order to reduce error potential on survey flights and increasing flight department’s efficiency, aerial-survey-base provides operator training!)
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UPDATE CHECK will look if there is a new version available on our server.
Traditional Film Camera & Scan

The left hand section gives an idea about the same parameters when using a traditional camera in terms of photo scale and scanning pixel size.
