A digital orthophoto image is a raw digital aerial photo image rectified to a
suitable DEM of the same area. Software merges the digital image with the DEM
and aligns the image orthogonally.
Currently, scanning technology and software allow end users to generate products
that may appear as orthorectified images at very little cost. However, the techniques
used to generate many of these products will not produce a positionally accurate
digital image. The employment of such products may be justified for some projects,
but should never be confused with or considered as a digital orthophoto. Nondigital
orthophoto products are generally considered to be digital image enlargements or
semi-rectified digital images.