Coordinates measurement with the usage of panoramic annular lens (PAL)

Panoramic annular lens creates a 360° image of space in the form of a ring, by which it’s possible to define two angular coordinates of points of the space being represented. For measuring 3-dimensional Cartesian coordinates of points, it’s possible to use panoramic stereo photography or position finder, built into the PAL-system. In the latter case the distortions don’t take place because of the change in linear dimensions of objects’ images in passing from one measuring point to another one, moreover, accuracy of linear measurements is higher than of angular ones.