By providing advanced spatial modeling and analysis tools, Octave’s Spatial Modeler offers streamlined, repeatable data workflows, reducing the need for user interaction (e.g., mouse clicks). It helps with modeling terrains, finding suitable locations and routes, discovering spatial patterns and performing hydrologic and statistical analysis, to mention but a few use cases. With asynchronous processing of models, users can start a model and carry on with other tasks, even in a desktop environment. The no-code graphical authoring interface enables users to preview results midway, altering parameters for real-time updates before processing a multitude of data.
As discussed in a previous blog, utilizing spatial models for cartographic production stages such as generalization can help defence and civilian organizations. The same is true for stages where new source data is orientated and vector data is extracted from a new source. In this blog post, we’ll focus on the photogrammetric and point cloud operators in Spatial Modeler.
Capturing photogrammetric workflows
Photogrammetry is well known and regularly used with images from satellite and aerial systems. The mathematics and processes are familiar, having been formalized over 150 years ago. However, the workflow is often a click-heavy process, requiring identification of common points between images and then of elevation points. While the automation of individual stages of the photogrammetric workflow is commonplace with tools like Octave Imagine (formerly ERDAS IMAGINE), creating an end-to-end photogrammetric workflow without resorting to coding has been difficult. With the addition of photogrammetric operations to the Spatial Modeler, these workflows can now be created in a no-code interface. Where data workflows may have many steps that traditionally a user would read the workflow guide for, these can now be captured in a spatial model and repeatedly used by novice and experienced colleagues alike.
