Terrestrial mobile mapping: photogrammetric simulator

Nowadays many types of sensors are used for terrestrial mobile mapping (TMM): IMU, odometers, GNSS, cameras, etc., and it is essential to understand how these sensors can improve the solution in terms of precision, accuracy and reliability. TMM issues are characterized by many variables: vehicle trajectory, the height of the buildings and the distance between them, traffic conditions, the presence or absence of trees, the level of illumination, etc. The aim of this study is to determine how photogrammetric measurements can improve the quality of TMM solution at least concerning magnitude and error propagation when there is no GNSS signal (for example in an urban canyon). Another purpose of the study was to determine the most suitable design project for a specific relief in order to obtain the best possible photogrammetric results. By analyzing the error propagation in the various components of relative orientation along the trajectory and considering a sequence of images characterized by an overlap varying between 60 to 90% and the same number of tie points, results were obtained which confirmed the reliability of the data produced by the simulator. These results are shown in this paper