Documentation | Help File | Glossary | Warp

The complex bending, stretching and compressing applied to an aerial image or vector map layer by the rectification calculation to transform the coverage conform to the GCP (Ground Control Point) placements. Warping is performed by the 2nd and 3rd order polynomial transformations and is necessary to correct distortions resulting from irregular scaling across the area of the coverage which can be caused by a number of factors. Warping does a good job correcting distortions which have some degree of regularity across the coverage, such as caused by the curvature of the earth or by the varying distances of the terrain captured in an image from the position of the camera.

The process of warping is also is also sometimes referred to as “morphing”.