Multispectral Kite Aerial Photography & Photo Processing (#maptimeDavis)

Description: These days, drones are a fairly common platform for low-altitude aerial imagery, but drones have their downside: they are expensive, often are heavy, don't work well in windy conditions, and are heavily regulated. But kites are rarely subject to the same restrictions, even if they are used for similar purposes. Additionally, kites fly in windy conditions that would ground a drone and flight times are limited by arm muscle endurance, not by battery life. Processing the photos from either a drone or a kite, however, follows largely the same workflow. I will present a low-cost aerial photography platform that uses a kite to lift the sensors and discuss free and open source photo processing options including stitching and georeferencing.

Learning Objectives: Participants will:

• understand when a kite or a drone is a more advantageous platform
• learn the component parts of a kite aerial photography system
• learn the tools and workflows for working with low-altitude aerial imagery, and gain an understanding of the software for processing the imagery acquired.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Software: None

Instructor: Michele Tobias

Instructor Bio: Michele Tobias is a biogeomorphologist with a background in geospatial methods for ecology. At DataLab, she helps researchers understand and design geospatial methods and workflows, from data collection to spatial analysis to data visualization and cartography. Michele earned her PhD from UC Davis in Geography where she studied California’s sandy beach ecosystem with a mix of traditional phytosociological methods and innovative remote sensing tools.