Simple Tool for Cost Estimation of Recovery of Damaged Sites

Recently, Home use digital camera equipped with GPS and compass are available in the market. Some of them are equipped with accelerometer and perform positioning in places where receiving GPS signal is difficult. Using such digital cameras, we can record position and direction of cameras on EXIF information of pictures. When it is shown on maps using GIS, we can identify position of targets shown on pictures. Since 2006, we have been developing a simple software tool for cost estimation of restoration of damaged sites. The tool is a combination of close range photogrammetry, CAD and spread sheet. The tool also provide simple digital surface model of the target site. So far, the out put of the tool does not have information of position. We had to plot the location of target site on digital map manually. Now the picture has information of position of camera and pointing direction. Thus we can report, damage and apply expense sharing by National treasury for recovery on more persuasive documents.