Research on Cloud Control photogrammetry based on Time-series Archived Aerial Photos and Its Application in Urban Governance in Beijing

Abstract. This study applies cloud control photogrammetry to time-series archived aerial photos to support urban governance in Beijing. Addressing challenges such as missing ground control points, heterogeneous coordinate references, and non-digitized aerial triangulation results, the proposed method leverages existing basic geographic products (e.g., DOM, DEM) as dense control sources, enabling automated aerial triangulation and 3D reconstruction without field control points. The workflow includes control source selection and organization, image preprocessing, cloud control point and tie point matching, block adjustment, and time-series product generation. Three experimental applications are presented: (1) reconstruction of river course changes in the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center using KH satellite images (1961 – 1974) and 1996 DOM, yielding time-series DOM products meeting 1:50,000 scale accuracy; (2) detection of illegal self-built building additions via DSM differencing from ADS80 images (2016 – 2017), identifying one-to-three-story structures; (3) 3D real-scene modeling of the Grand Canal’s Tonghui River section from 1975 film photos and 2015 control data, revealing 40 years of urban transformation. Results demonstrate that cloud control photogrammetry ensures spatiotemporal consistency and enables quantifiable, multi-temporal 3D analysis for urban change detection, illegal construction monitoring, and cultural heritage preservation.