REMOTE SENSING and AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY Roger Wheate NREM100 Fall 2010

Remote Sensing information about an object by a recording device not in contact with the object cameras, lasers, scanners, radar systems, Lidar the term did not exist before satellites (1960s) increased the scope of aerial surveys with digital scanning

Remote Sensing 1910s: First (wartime) aerial photography 1940s: aerial photography programs 1960s: first satellites: Espionage, weather, communications 1970s: Digital imagery for earth mapping 2000s: free web images

Early aerial photography (before planes): balloons, pigeons and mountain tops

Oblique photos from mountain peaks: Banff

Oblique photography

Post-1945: Panchromatic aerial photograph: Iqualuit

Aerial Photography Aerial photography = two sciences: –Photogrammetry (=precise locations and heights) –Air photo interpretation (=feature identification) Advantages over ground surveying –Cost and time-convenience –Historical record

Aerial Photography Flightlines Overlap Corrected and mosaiced Type: Pan, Colour, IR

Air Photo Interpretation Tone / colour Texture Shape Pattern Size Shadows Context

Colour photography – 2x as expensive

Infra-red photography – 3x as expensive

1:50,000 NTS maps (from photos) (1:20,000 BC maps/data) PG 93G015 Photos 1996 Printed 2000 Roads updated, other 1982 Reprinted 2010 Roads updated Others still 1982

BC aerial photography 2007

Digital aerial photography

Orthophotos as digital map layers: 1993, 2003, BC ‘imap’:

Applications All natural resources disciplines –Navigation and mapping –Forest inventory –Geologic surveys –Natural hazards –Land use change –Wildlife habitat assessment Photos – 1:15,000 = 4km x 4 km; 1:40,000 = 10km x 10km Satellite images: 60 x 60 km ; 185 x 185km; 500 x 500 km

Merge of satellite image and orthophoto

1960s – weather satellites 1972 – Landsat – Landsat s – more earth- resources satellites 1999 – Landsat 7 (copyright removed) 2000 – high resolution corporate satellites 2005 Web applications Remote sensing - Satellite imagery Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island Pre 1984 cutblocks in pink, in blue

Satellite orbits (800km altitude) Landsat path: earthnow earthnow

Landsat image – Bowron Lakes 30 metre resolution

Vegetation Information and the Electromagnetic Spectrum Visiblevisible characteristics (RGB) Near IRvegetation vigour / health Mid IRvegetation and soil moisture Thermal IRtemperature / heat Microwave/Radar texture e.g. high for forest

2003

2007

High resolution corporate satellites: Geoeye (50cm res.) Cypress Bowl – Feb 19, 2010

Applications – remote sensing Geologic – faults, deposits, exploration Vegetation – forestry, agriculture, ecology Urban - land use, growth Geography – regional and local studies ASTER: Ikonos: Quickbird: Geoeye: BC mosaics: Google maps:

NASA – images of the day

Google Earth (since 2005) : aerial photography and satellite images

The giant dog you can see from space Monday, June 9, 2008 BORIS the bull mastiff is so big that he can be seen lounging in his favourite position in the garden - from space. The 89kg dog has been captured on Google Earth's satellite images. His owners noticed an enormous brown blob on the image of their front garden and were stunned to discover it was their pet. 'He was in his favourite place,' said Fran Milner, from Bournemouth. We knew he was big but didn't think he was big enough to be seen from space.'

Google Earth: aerial photography and satellite images / mashups Filmaps