essential
likely
maybe
probably not
Front (prompt)
Photo scale formula for an aerial photograph?
Plain English (default view) — short, conversational, lightly seasoned with science
Photo scale is just **focal length divided by flying height**. - Big focal length, low altitude → **zoomed in**, small ground area, lots of detail. - Small focal length, high altitude → **wide view**, big ground area, less detail. Same trade-off as your phone camera — wide-angle covers more, telephoto zooms in. Aerial cameras are the same physics, just a few thousand feet up.
🔬 Scientific / formula (revealed on click) — markdown + $$…$$ ok
📐 `S = f / H` - 🔍 **f** = camera focal length - ⬇️ **H** = flying height above the terrain Three ways to express scale: - 🗣️ **Verbal:** "1 cm = 1 km" - 🔢 **Ratio (RF):** 1:100 000 - 📏 **Graphic bar:** drawn on the map ⚠️ Larger denominator = **smaller scale**. A 1:100 000 map shows less detail than 1:10 000.
💡 Mnemonic / memory aid (shown on hover)
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