Introduction to Simple Aerial Photomapping with Balloons, Kites or other platforms (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Radio Controlled (R/C) or piloted aircraft)

1. Simple,
Inexpensive
Aerial
Photography
Mapping
with
Balloons
or
Kites
Patrick
Coyle
EWB-­‐SFP;
Public
Lab,
Belize
Open
Source
-­‐
Sustainable
Development
for
The
1st
Symposium
Without
Borders
October
25,
2014

2. Agenda
• Why
bother?
Aerial
photomaps
can
be
very
useful
• Community,
Site
and
Project
Planning;
Agricultural/
Ecological
planning,
evaluaGon
• How?
In
summary,
what’s
needed?
• Equipment,
SoKware,
Supplies,
Materials
• Step-­‐by-­‐step
guide
• Examples
from
community
of
users
• What’s
new
• DemonstraGon
–
let’s
fly!
• See
results,
Q&A
• Jeff
Warren,
Public
Lab,
produced
community
maps
in
Lima,
Peru
with
children
and
adults

3. Step-­‐by-­‐step
guide
• Decide
what
you
want
to
do,
produce
and
deliver;
thinking
this
through
will
help
to
define
the
requirements
For
example,
here
is
Coyle’s
preliminary
set
of
requirements:
• Take
detailed
aerial
photos
of
the
Belize
Open
Source
Sustainable
Development
40-­‐acre
property
with
enough
detail
that
individual
trees
are
clear
• Cover
the
site
with
overlapping
images
and
use
soKware
to
sGtch
them
together
into
a
single
photomap
and
georegister
it
to
Google
Earth
imagery
of
the
property
• Tag
the
individual
photos
with
GPS
data
to
geo-­‐reference
them
for
viewing
on
Google
Maps,
Google
Earth,
or
for
use
with
other
applicaGons
• Develop
methods
to
use
the
photomaps
for
work
planning,
tracking
progress
and
communicaGng
results
to
encourage
parGcipaGon
in
the
iniGaGve.
Document
the
approach
and
techniques
• Apply
the
method
to
other
community
mapping
iniGaGves
and
make
it
available
to
EWB
teams
and
schools
and
communiGes
in
Belize

4. What’s
needed?
• Digital
camera
with
ability
to
take
photos
automaGcally
(at
few-­‐second
intervals
or
conGnuously
(~
1
per
second))
• (advanced:
pair
of
cameras,
shooGng
vis
and
IR
or
infrablue
in
synch)
• GPS
tracking
unit
(opGonal,
where
needed)
• Package
to
house
and
protect
the
camera
and
GPS
unit
• Balloon
or
kite
with
enough
liK
capability
to
carry
the
camera,
GPS
unit,
housing
and
sufficient
tether
line
to
reach
height
of
interest
for
the
photographs
• Safe
area
to
test
the
system
and
process
• Safe
approach
to
use
the
process
in
the
field
• Capability
to
process
the
data
and
present
the
results
• Approach
to
discuss
and
use
the
results

5. A
complete
grassroots
mapping
kit

6. Public
Lab
has
great
resources
• Start
with
Public
Lab’s
(PL)
Tool
page
for
Balloon
and
Kite
Mapping:
• hgp://publiclab.org/wiki/balloon-­‐mapping
• Their
whole
toolkit
is
linked
out
there,
but
really
fast:
• Buy
their
balloon
kit,
assemble
your
own,
or
buy/make
a
kite
•
Find
a
good
camera
•
Determine
how
you
will
trigger
the
camera,
(rubber
band,
CHDK)
•
Or
pick
out
a
Gmelapse
app
for
your
smartphone
•
Build
a
simple
housing
from
a
plasGc
bogle
•
Find
a
site
to
map
that
is
five
miles
from
an
airport
and
not
Washington
D.C.
(or
learn
about
the
regulaGons
yourself)
•
Follow
the
pre-­‐flight
checklist
and
quickstart
guide
to
safely
fill
up
your
balloon
and
fly!
•
Sort
your
images
on
your
desktop
or
with
Mapmill
•
Make
them
into
a
map
with
Mapkniger
•
Print
a
poster
of
your
map
from
Mapkniger,
see
your
map
join
the
public
record
in
PL
archive,
even
in
Google
Earth
• Share
your
experGse
with
others

7. Balloon
or
kite?

8. Camera
capsule

9. Camera
preparaGon

10. Flying
balloon
or
kite

11. “Neogeographic”
approach
to
inexpensive
oil
spill
mapping
• In
April
2010,
the
Deepwater
Horizon
oil
rig
exploded
and
sank
in
the
Gulf
of
Mexico,
iniGaGng
what
may
be
one
of
the
worst
environmental
disasters
in
U.S.
history
• As
the
spill
grew
in
size,
Jeffrey
Warren
and
Stewart
Long
collaborated
with
the
Louisiana
Bucket
Brigade,
a
New
Orleans-­‐based
environmental
non-­‐profit
group,
and
began
a
volunteer-­‐led
aerial
mapping
project
to
document
the
spill’s
effects
• The
maps
use
orthorecGfied
photographs
of
key
affected
sites
processed
into
GeoTIFFs
and
Gled
map
services
(TMS)
-­‐
the
public
domain
photographs,
taken
from
balloons
or
kites,
are
among
the
highest
resoluGon
imagery
available
of
the
spill

12. Oil
Spill
Mapping
Kits
• The
mapping
kits
themselves,
assembled
for
less
than
$300
each,
consisted
of:
•
an
8-­‐foot
weather
balloon
•
a
tank
of
helium
•
2000
feet
of
string
•
an
inexpensive,
consumer
grade
digital
camera
•
half
of
a
soda
bogle
•
a
large
kite
•
GPS
logger
(opGonal)

13. Oil
spill
mapping
approach
• ParGcipants
visit
an
affected
area,
fill
a
balloon
or
prepare
a
kite
depending
on
wind
condiGons,
and
send
the
camera
in
its
homemade
protecGve
enclosure
up
to
2000
feet
in
the
air
• By
walking
along
the
beach
or
moving
in
a
boat,
several
kilometers
of
coastline
may
be
imaged
in
just
a
few
hours
• Some
maps,
at
~
2-­‐3
cm
nominal
resoluGon,
can
count
birds,
plants
and
other
features,
even
idenGfy
bird
species

14. Oil
spill
mapping
trips
and
data
• Between
May
7
and
July
22,
2010
dozens
of
parGcipants
made
36
trips
to
gather
mapping
data,
averaging
almost
one
trip
every
other
day
• Only
one
trip
failed
to
return
with
imagery,
56%
of
the
trips
returned
with
"excellent"
or
"usable"
data,
and
over
11,000
images
were
taken,
mapping
conGnued
through
January
2011
• This
is
a
case
where
the
low-­‐cost
mapping
techniques
were
applied
to
a
real-­‐world
problem
of
immediate
importance

15. OrthorecGficaGon
(sGtching)
techniques
• Two
different
manual
processing
methods
have
accounted
for
the
bulk
of
the
mapping
for
Public
Lab
(publiclab.org)
to
date:
• Gonzo
Earth
Image
Processing
is
a
workflow
of
different
commercial
off-­‐the-­‐shelf
(COTS)
and
open-­‐source
GIS
and
digital
image
soKware
packages,
which
has
been
used
to
generate
dozens
of
maps
from
balloons,
kites,
remote
controlled
and
manned
aircraK
• MapKniger,
mapkniger.org,
is
web-­‐based
soKware
for
users
to
upload
and
recGfy
images
from
a
web
browser
• Both
export
finished
maps
in
standard
formats
that
can
be
viewed
in
common
GIS
tools
and
integrated
into
exisGng
workflows

22. A
Grassroots
Mapping
collaboraGon
in
Georgia
• In
the
country
of
Georgia,
Grassroots
Mapping
techniques
were
used
alongside
more
tradiGonal
GPS-­‐based
approaches
by
the
OpenMapsCaucasus.org
effort
to
produce
a
public
domain
map
of
the
enGre
country

23. • A
map
of
MesGa,
in
the
SvaneG
region
of
Georgia.
The
map
spans
5.5
kilometers
and
was
captured
in
just
3
days
of
balloon
and
kite
mapping
with
local
OpenMapsCaucasus
staff
and
parGcipaGng
students

24. • Flight
paths
of
several
balloon
mapping
flights
in
MesGa,
Georgia,
during
a
3-­‐day
project
to
map
the
enGre
city
• The
pictured
flights
reached
1.4
kilometers
above
ground
level

25. Grassroots
Mapping
Belize
• Pat
Coyle
of
Belize
Open
Source
Sustainable
Development
is
applying
these
techniques
to
detailed
mapping
of
a
40-­‐
acre
property
in
northwest
Belize
and
other
community
and
educaGonal
mapping
iniGaGves
• I’ve
commissioned
the
mapping
tools
and
am
conGnuing
to
pracGce
the
techniques

26. Site:
Belize
Open
Source
Sustainable
Development
• This
40-­‐acre
rural
property
is
located
in
northwestern
Belize
near
the
Mexican
and
Guatemala
borders
about
16
miles
from
Orange
Walk
Town,
between
the
villages
of
August
Pine
Ridge
and
San
Felipe
and
3.5
miles
to
Rio
Hondo
Belize/Mexico
border
belizeopensource.org
• Google
Maps
shows
it,
but
unGl
recently,
two
more
clicks
in
and
you
ran
out
of
pixels
–
it’s
beger
now

27. Status:
grassroots
mapping
program
in
Belize
• Started
with
9-­‐day
trip
in
February,
2013
to
engage
schools,
develop
capabiliGes
and
make
iniGal
set
of
maps
(Belize
Open
Source
property,
August
Pine
Ridge
school
classrooms
and
surrounding
community,
and
Muffles
College)
• Posted
Research
Notes
on
Public
Lab,
in
context
of
a
plan
to:
• develop
capabiliGes,
• archive,
access
and
communicate
with
the
images,
• implement
training
through
classes
in
local
schools,
• conGnue
with
ongoing
workshops
for
future
visitors
to
extend
techniques
and
map
more
of
the
country's
sites
of
interest
with
emphasis
on
community
needs
and
benefits
to
local
users,
as
well
as
some
the
gorgeous
sites
• Muffles
College
Environmental
Sciences
program
parGcipated.
Jeff
Warren
and
Stewart
Long,
Public
Laboratory
for
Open
Technology
and
Science,
have
parGcipated
in
planning

28. Blanca Torres, principal of the August Pine Ridge school, wrote, “The aerial photo
mapping seems very interesting. I shared with my children and sisters the images
of our village … and they just loved them. … I welcome these opportunities where
I can involve my students in new learning experiences. I am very interested in
exposing them through your mapping project. We feel pride in having our
community appear in internet pages and more if we are involved in getting those
images.”

29. August Pine Ridge RC school, Belize mapping session

30. In progress and completed new classroom building
Richard Obratil, former Chapter President, Project Manager/Site Engineer
EWB-Cleveland State University Chapter, wrote, “... here is a picture of the
building…”

31. Muffles Junior College,
Belize mapping
sessions
With Rafael Castillo, the faculty
advisor, and the Environmental
Club at the Muffles Junior
College campus near Orange
Walk Town
We did two hands-on training
and mapping sessions and I
left them with a complete KAP
mapping kit
This puts a sustainable
mapping capability in place at
Muffles which can serve the
Environmental Science
program

32. Belize Open Source mapping session
Initial images from Delta Levitation with A1200 in juice bottle rig shooting in
continuous mode

33. Simple Aerial Photomapping session, EWB Regional
Workshop at Cal Poly 2012

34. Simple Aerial Photomapping session, EWB Regional
Workshop in San Diego 2013

35. Cal Poly EWB PAP (Pole Aerial Photography) mapping for
India Project

36. • Niles,
CA:
Google
Earth
imagery
shows
center
under
construcGon,
the
sGtched
map
shows
completed
facility

38. • PracGce
flights:
Livermore,
CA

39. • Sunol,
CA:

40. • “Personal aerial photo-mapping session with balloons or kites,”
a fundraising auction item, was successful
• 7/22/12, Nile Runge, who had successfully bid on the item at a Livermore
Rotary Club fundraiser, and I flew two mylar sleeping bag balloons with
a Canon A1200, shooting in continuous mode in a juice-bottle rig.
• We flew at Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area, Pleasanton, CA,
a part of the East Bay Regional Park District

45. Single-­‐camera
muGspectral
imagery
NDVI
result
from
A1200
with
internal
Wragen
25;
processed
using
Ned
Hornings
Fiji
tool

47. AutomaGc
volume
calculaGon
Used
free
3D
model
mesh
tools
(Meshmixer
and
Blender)
to
automaGcally
calculate
earth
mound
feature
volume
in
a
SFM
model
from
aerial
mapping
photos
augmented
by
ground-­‐based
photos.
Autodesk's
123DCatch
web
tool
used
to
make
3D
model

52. hJp://mapkniJer.org/
• MapKniJer
is
a
free
and
open
source
tool
for
combining
and
posiQoning
images
in
geographic
space
into
a
composite
image
map

53. Get
Involved
• publiclab.org
provides
techniques
and
tools,
case
studies
• ParGcipate:
join
the
mailing
list
• Start
a
grassroots
mapping
project
• Apply
the
techniques
to
your
project

54. Let’s
fly,
Q&A

55. • We are outside flying, catch up with us
• We’ll come back and try to make map
• Look at the rest of the talk