Fugro-BKS (formerly BKS Surveys) has signed up as a content provider to Bluesky’s online collection of historically important aerial photographs. Visitors to www.oldaerialphotos.com will now be able to search through thousands of additional unique aerial images from the 1950’s onwards including many complete UK county surveys. The Fugro-BKS images available from OldAerialPhotos also include a significant amount of project specific photographs covering sites in Cornwall, Hampshire, Norfolk, Grampian, Tyne and Wear and Merseyside.

“BKS is a well known and highly respected name in the aerial survey sector and we are therefore delighted that they have come on board as content providers for the OldAerialPhotos website,” commented James Eddy, Technical Director of Bluesky. “This agreement with Fugro-BKS will further enhance the visitors’ experience providing access to an unprecedented million plus historically important images.”

“OldAerialPhotos provides a window on the past revealing towns and cities as they have developed over the past fifty plus years,” commented Mervyn Adams, Production Manager of Fugro-BKS. “The addition of our back collection of imagery to the archive will further enhance the potential for historic research and local area studies.”

Fugro-BKS (formerly BKS Surveys) was established in 1956 in Leatherhead, Surrey. The founding shareholders, J.W.Barnby, M.Keegan and R.W. Stevens, gave the company its initials B.K.S. and the company’s main businesses were aerial photography and topographical surveys. In 1965, Fugro-BKS expanded its operation through new offices in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, and in 1967, the Leatherhead production facility was transferred to an enlarged Coleraine unit. In April 2008 BKS joined the Fugro group; based in Holland Fugro has more than 300 operating companies worldwide, providing a range of geotechnical survey and geoscience services.

Visitors to www.oldaerialphotos.com can search through more than a million aerial photos dating back as far as 1917 by simply entering a postcode, address or grid reference. Detailed search results, including the age and ground coverage, of every image that matches the search criteria are displayed and the visitor can choose to purchase either a hard copy print or digital image file.

Photos that are available to purchase from www.oldaerialphotos.com include some of the earliest commercial aerial survey images, military photography from World War II and many national archives. Offering a record of most major UK cities and towns, transport and utility infrastructure and commercial property developments, the images are an invaluable resource for anyone with a personal or professional interest in local studies, genealogy, boundary disputes, environmental land use research or town planning.

Aerial survey specialist Bluesky is developing what is thought to be the UK’s first maps of solar energy potential. Created using a variety of high accuracy height data the 3D maps will identify homes and other buildings with roofs that may be suitable for mounting solar panels to generate renewable energy. Bluesky already has access to off the shelf data for the whole of the UK and measurements such as the shape, pitch, size and aspect of building roofs are being extracted – information that is essential when considering the potential for solar energy installations.

“Using data that is already available online at www.bluesky-world.com we can create citywide maps of solar energy potential. We believe this is the first time this has been done in the UK and we are following in the footsteps of cities like New York, San Francisco and Boston,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky. “Despite the popular perception of UK weather there exists an enormous potential for solar energy and the solar maps we are creating can be used by home owners to make an initial assessment about the suitability of their property or by Local Authorities or Utility companies to understand the wider potential.”

Solar energy can be harnessed by thermal solar panels or hot water heating solar panels to provide useable energy to power UK homes and businesses. It is estimated that the UK receives 60 per cent of the solar energy compared with locations at the equator. This is equivalent to 1000 power stations. On average each square metre of the UK receives between 900 – 1200kwh each year.

Bluesky already has access to comprehensive range of off the shelf data that can be used to extract information from which to create solar maps including nationwide coverage of Digital Terrain and Digital Surface Models (DTM / DSM), the most comprehensive LiDAR coverage of the UK and highly accurate and detailed 3D building models for all major UK cities. This information can be enhanced with high-resolution aerial photography available from the GeoPerspectives product range, mapping or thermal imagery for property heat loss analysis.

Aerial survey specialist Bluesky is developing a new service to map Britain’s cities and towns at night. Captured using specially developed aerial survey equipment Bluesky’s Nightsky photomaps will accurately record the location street lights, illuminated road signs and other night-time sources of light. The light emission maps will also provide an accurate base for asset inventories, light pollution assessment and energy optimisation for electricity plants.

Using specially developed technology to capture night orthophotos for the first time, Bluesky’s map accurate images can be used directly in a desktop mapping tool or geographical information system (GIS). Providing additional intelligence for Local Authorities and other organisations that are responsible for lighting infrastructure Nightsky maps can be used as an aid for street lighting inventories and condition assessments and to assist with the identification of units for routine maintenance or fault repair.

Additional applications of the night-time survey images are expected to include measurement of illumination for energy consumption evaluations and additional intelligence to support innovative projects to ‘dim’ or even switch off selected streetlights in an effort to save money and reduce carbon emissions. Using advanced spatial queries and mapping techniques Bluesky Nightsky maps can also be used to provide an assessment of light pollution helping to reduce unnecessary illumination and focus lighting infrastructure where it is needed most.

“We believe this is a really valuable addition to our product portfolio,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky. “The natural and built environments are well documented with many types of remotely sensed data available including detailed aerial photography, height models and colour infrared. By capturing night orthophotos we can discover more about how we illuminate our cities and towns and, hopefully, help reduce energy consumption and improve the effectiveness of urban lighting projects.”

Bluesky already has considerable experience and expertise in the capture and creation of off the shelf night-time aerial imagery as they are the UK’s leading provider of thermal photomaps to Local Authorities and partner organisations. Bluesky’s thermal survey service measures building roof heat loss levels across an entire city in just one evening together with a bespoke thermal mapping service creating intelligent energy consumption and fuel poverty maps to support energy strategies and local campaigns.

Computer generated 3D visualisations are being used to help study river pollution of the River Doe Lea. The research project, carried out by the National Trust with partner institutions the University of Sheffield, Environment Agency, Natural England and other consultancies aims to develop a multi-targeted catchment management strategy. Airborne remote sensing data, supplied by Bluesky, was used as part of a PhD study carried out within the project. The digital aerial photography, colour Infrared imagery (CIR) and photogrammetrically derived digital height models were used to model the flow of agricultural pollutants and assess the diffusive effect on the landscape.

Results from the project ‘Modelling Catchment Landscapes Potential to Mitigate Diffuse Pollution from Agriculture’ were recently presented at an international conference on Catchment Science organised and attended by members of CatSci a multidisciplinary research programme in catchment science funded by the European Commission under the Marie Curie Early Stage Training Fellowship scheme.

Nataliya Tkachenko, author of the research project commented, “The primary aim of the study was to develop an interactive landscape model, which would give the possibility to evaluate mitigation options in scenario context and open opportunities for participatory GIS applied to agriculture. This model is novel in the aspect of geotargeting of mitigation options within the real landscape, where solutions can be downscaled to the finer elements. Evaluation of landscape processes in the context environment is highly complicated process, which requires substantial amount of data input on various temporal and spatial scales. Both 3D visualisation, CIR derived indicators and temporal data are powerful source of input information.”

She continued, “Being able to represent and visualise the countryside in all aspects was essential for the accurate modelling of the mitigating effects of the landscape on the agricultural pollutants studied. The Bluesky data was available off the shelf and in a format and specification suitable for use in our geographical information system (GIS) and image analysis software.”

The Bluesky data supplied to the University of Sheffield for this study is part of the GeoPerspectives product range. GeoPerspectives offers nationwide coverage of high resolution aerial photography and Colour Infrared imagery as well as highly accurate, photogrammetrically derived Digital Terrain Models (the earth’s surface excluding buildings and vegetation) and Digital Surface Models (the earth’s surface including buildings and vegetation). Bluesky is also able to provide ultra detailed LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and services covering the majority of England and Wales including all major urban centres, coastal areas and flood plains.

A detailed 3D computer model of Dundee’s historic waterfront area is helping planners, architects and the public visualise its multi million pound transformation. In an ambitious plan to reconnect the city centre with the riverside area Dundee City Council is using the model, which was created by aerial imaging company Bluesky, to map out possible developments along the river Tay. The model is being used to show the impact of developments on the existing environment and skyline and communicate plans and decisions to interested parties.

Dundee, described by actor Stephen Fry as “… about as ideal, ludicrously ideal, as a city setting could be,” has a population of over 142,000 and acts as regional centre on the East Coast of Scotland with a large catchment area and sphere of influence. The reinvigoration of Dundee as an ideal place to live, work and visit includes the waterfront development described as one of the most notable forward thinking projects in Scotland today.

“When the central waterfront area is complete not only will the heart of Dundee be re-connected with its stunning estuary setting, but up to 3,500 permanent jobs will be created bringing in £2.6 billion to the national economy,” commented Ken Guild, Leader of Dundee City Council.

3D model making has always been expensive and local authorities in particular have depended on third parties to supply imagery and animations for new architectural proposals. However where planners are creating area masterplans the ability to draw up a basic 3D model in-house to aid in the design process is very valuable. A couple of years ago the planning department at Dundee City Council started, with more enthusiasm perhaps than a suitable budget or 3D computer skills, to draw up a basic model of the Dundee Central Waterfront proposal in Google SketchUp.

The model was quickly considered successful as it proved to be very useful, particularly because planning officers could easily make changes in-house to quickly test out ideas and communicate them to others. The central buildings were carefully drawn up and then surrounded with basic flat-topped extrusions representing buildings for the wider area. Unfortunately the extrusions did not provide a convincing backdrop that was recognisable, this was a serious drawback in terms of skyline considerations. The time required to draw in a wider area of the numerous surrounding buildings was considered too much, also the model was becoming functionally limited due to the size of the file.

Bluesky’s development of 3D environments came in at a good time for Dundee City Council’s planning department’s ambition for a wider more detailed model. It allowed for greater expansion, with more recognisable features that the public can now engage with. It allows planners to understand possible developments more quickly and assess their impact on the local and wider environments and skyline. The new development of V&A coming to the waterfront of Dundee will now make the model more important as public interest increases.

Used in Google SketchUp, a 3D modelling programme designed for architects, civil engineers, filmmakers and game developers the Bluesky building model “ … is easy to use, easy to manipulate and the addition of aerial photography makes it easy to interpret and understand even for non GIS / CAD trained users and especially for the public,” commented John Gray Planning Officer, for Dundee City Council.

The bespoke building model supplied by Bluesky was derived from high-resolution aerial photography to produce a vector mesh file showing real world heights and locations for the existing waterfront development together with the underlying ground terrain. The aerial photography is also used to texture the landscape and building roofs providing additional real world detail in order to make the model more user-friendly. Bluesky 3D building models are created ready to have building facia textured with additional oblique or street level photography if required.

Website: www.bluesky-world.com

Seven or eight years ago the concept of Google Earth seemed a far flung idea, the thought of making that very expensive aerial photography was inconceivable, however such online applications have changed the way we look at the world (quite literally) forever. So what is in store for the future as aerial and other imaging technology advances? James Eddy, Technical Director of Bluesky investigates.

In just a few years a new generation of maps have become mainstream. How long will traditional cartographic methods of creating maps from aerial photographs and field surveys continue. New technology has meant a step change in mapping. We are now in the era of rapid digital data capture, processing and dissemination,, and perhaps most importantly greater understanding Anyone with internet access can now be a cartographer with the introduction of crowdsourced mapping.

Before we delve too much into the future it is worth looking at the data capture technology that is evolving today. The latest generation of digital survey cameras not only offer exceptionally high clarity and resolution, but have better shadow penetration and larger radiometric range. They also capture sufficient metadata to allow the rapid production of products such as Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and orthophoto. Sensors also simultaneously capture Colour Infrared (CIR) data used for creating maps showing such things as vegetation health and ground water. But aerial survey has moved on from just aerial photography, specialist sensors are now affordable and commonplace, and not just the domain of universities and research institutes.

One of the biggest benefits of the digital era is perhaps the data processing. Gone are the months of post processing to digitise and orthorectify the imagery. GPS and IMU (inertial measurement units) capture the location and attitude of the camera or sensor whilst it captures an image to centimetre-level accuracy. This saves a significant time in during post processing. It is getting to the point whereby fully orthorectified aerial photography will be created in flight, allowing new data to become available for use minutes after it has been taken. Once Galileo and the Chinese Compass GNSS systems are fully operational, we may see further improvement in accuracy, and perhaps completely eliminate the need for any ground control.

Medium format aerial digital cameras, which can fit in a suitcase, are also coming to market and these will allow high quality photography to be acquired at a much lower cost. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) such as drones or remote controlled helicopters will become commonplace, as sensors become smaller and data storage continues to improve, and hopefully Air Traffic become more accepting. These developments reduce the cost of aerial mapping overall allowing more regular surveys and more specialist surveys for new developments, environmental monitoring, natural disasters and public safety or security planning.

Earth observation satellites are often crammed with a multitude of sensors capable of measuring a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum to monitor the land, atmosphere and the oceans, but usually on a macro scale. Whilst not all of these sensors would be suitable for use on an aircraft or UAV, some would allow us to monitor the earth on a more micro scale, a street corner rather than a city. For example with the need to create a sustainable environment, there is an increasing interest in airborne thermal surveys; satellites have carried thermal sensors for many years but new microbolometer thermal cameras designed specifically for airborne surveying allow high precision thermal mapping are now emerging. These are already being used by local authorities in Europe to measure the heat loss from buildings in order to improve energy efficiency in their communities. However there are also other applications such as determining the ‘heat island’ effect of large conurbations or the effectiveness of air conditioning and power lines.

Airborne remote sensing technology is evolving rapidly with other types of sensor. Lidar systems for example are now widely used and generally accepted mapping sensors with many more applications than just measuring the height of things. Bathymetric lidar meanwhile is allowing water depths to be mapped quickly and accurately for the first time along coastlines, estuaries and lakes. Sensors are also evolving using longer ‘microwave’ wavelengths such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) which allow data collection day or night and in almost any weather conditions. Multispectral and hyperspectral sensors have been around for a while, but with smaller, lower cost sensors, improved analysis of the data, greater understanding of the data, and most importantly a greater need to monitor the environment, we will perhaps see an increase in the use of these types of sensor.

With the threat of global warming and the ongoing threat of natural disasters, there is a growing interest in the environment. This has led to a demand for the monitoring of change, whether natural or man made. . It has been acknowledged that remote sensing (and not just satellite) is a valuable environmental monitoring resource, with the setting up of GMES by the EC and the European Space Agency. This will bring about more regular surveying using a wide range of sensors is allowing scientists to build a much more complete picture of the environmental conditions on the ground. Accurate models can be created to show the impact of, for example, rising sea levels, increasing pollution or illegal logging. Over the coming years GMES will enable earth observation (EO) data to be used in mainstream applications by organisations who are not traditional EO data users.

Environmental issues will also lead to an increase in the ongoing monitoring of the Earth. More frequent surveying will allow developments and the terrain to be remotely monitored with regular automated mapping of changes on the ground. However, the biggest development might be in near real-time monitoring. Currently satellites offer opportunities for near real time data capture, however there is no reason that an aerial survey could not be carried out on a regular basis to give near real time data. For example, traffic queues and air pollution could be monitored and transportation policy adjustments made every day.

With the improving range of airborne sensors highlighted above, one of the most important developments in the future will be multisensor data fusion. Here the integration of data into a single multi-layered dataset will give immediate and more comprehensive information of the situation on the ground. Data fusion also applies to other geographic information. So, there will be an increasing trend to integrate existing GIS layers and geo-referenced data held on other systems such as street lighting and traffic flow layers as well as data from mobile video capture, photography and laser scanning systems.

The new technology mentioned sofar represents an evolution of existing technology. But the real revolution in mapping will come from the move from 2D to 3D and improvements in data streaming technologies. As discussed at the beginning of this article, maps are already changing with aerial photography giving a more realistic view of what is on the ground. Now Google and Bing are fighting to capture public interest in 3D mapping and big players in entertainment are driving forward with ever more sophisticated innovations in Virtual Reality. Even some Sat Navs now offer a 3D view.

Extensive 3D modelling is already happening using vertical and oblique aerial photos. Extensive street level photos meanwhile adds ground level 360 degree imagery into the mix and with ground level laser scanning and video capture are building street level ‘asset’ databases . This technology called Augmented Reality is already appearing on the iPhone and other large screen smartphones or PDA’s. It will not be long before you will be able to zoom in from space onto any street location in the world and view everything from that spot on the ground, and even enter public buildings, such as shops and libraries.

This is where we enter the world of the ‘Metaverse’. This is a virtual world where you can re-create the real world on screen and visit directly from your PC or phone. You can already download user-generated layers for Google Earth 3D that provide locations of landmarks, houses and walking trails and through Google’s free 3D modelling software (SketchUp) users can create visualisations. Perhaps your Avatar (a representation of yourself typically as a 3D model as used in computer games) will be able to visit the inside of the apartment for rent or home for sale, or the shoe department in the department store, or your perhaps your local supermarket to do your weekly shop.

Aerial surveying will continue to have a significant input into this new generation of maps, and we will see an increase in the numbers of surveys taking place for a wide range of applications; cartographic, environmental, natural disaster, humanitarian, and of course this new virtual world we are all about to enter.

Bluesky has signed a reseller agreement with Landmark, Britain’s leading supplier of land and property search information. The deal will see the UK’s largest collection of historically important commercial aerial photographs being made available through the Envirocheck website further helping professional users to make informed decisions based on comprehensive environmental site assessment information. The million plus photographs, from Bluesky’s Old Aerial Photos archive, date back as far as 1917 and include some of the earliest commercial survey images, military photography and many national archives.

Envirocheck.co.uk brings together the best environmental information and digital mapping in one simple to use package. Delivering details of contaminated land, pollution, flooding and flood prevention schemes, landfill sites, hazardous substances, geological features and industrial or sensitive land uses, the basic Envirocheck report includes Data Sheets, Site Sensitivity Maps and Historical site plans.

The Old Aerial Photos images will be offered on the Envirocheck website as a value added service and registered users can select images from detailed search results, including the age and ground coverage of every image that matches the search criteria, with the file supplied as a digital image.

“Although often quoted it is none the less true ‘a picture (really does) paint a thousand words’ so the addition of the Old Aerial Photos to the Envirocheck solution will really help uncover and bring to life potentially important environmental information,” commented David Mole, Managing Director of Landmark Environment.

Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky commented, “This is an important agreement for the future development and preservation of the archive. Landmark is a leader in the field of land and property search information and the interest they can generate will be used to further enhance the collection.”

Old Aerial Photos that are available to purchase from Envirocheck.co.uk include some of the earliest commercial aerial survey images, military photography from World War II and many national archives. Offering a record of most major UK cities and towns, transport and utility infrastructure and commercial property developments, the images are an invaluable resource for anyone with a personal or professional interest in local studies, genealogy, boundary disputes, environmental land use research or town planning.

Trees and hedgerows form an essential part of the UK’s historic rural and urban landscape contributing not only aesthetically but also environmentally and even economically. However the management of these valuable resources can present a headache with financial consideration often out weighing more the positive contributions offered. James Eddy, Technical Director and co founder of aerial surveying company Bluesky examines how aerial photography could lend a helping hand.

Managing the Rural Landscape

Hedgerows are a highly valued resource, for many reasons, and are protected by both local planning law, biodiversity planning and the EU Habitats Directives. Hedgerows are a respected part of our cultural heritage and historic record as they were considered essential for marking ownership boundaries and controlling the movement of livestock, however with the easy availability of accurate maps, GPS and wire fencing these reasons are less valid. In today’s world hedgerows are becoming increasingly valued for their great value to wildlife and the natural landscape and the role they play in preventing soil loss and reducing pollution, and for their potential to regulate water supply and reduce flooding.

Currently hedgerow mapping is a largely manual process, either from field survey, field sampling or air photo interpretation. These traditional approaches can provide high quality, detailed maps but can be expensive and or time consuming. In a recent research project Environment Systems has developed a unique methodology to automatically extract hedgerow features dramatically reducing the time and cost of more traditional field mapping exercises.

Using high-resolution aerial photography and colour infrared imagery supplied by Bluesky, Environment Systems has developed a semi-automated methodology for hedgerow mapping. The red, green, blue and colour infrared spectral bans of the imagery are optimised (however other combinations or other spectral information can be used) and automated digitising techniques are used to extract hedgerow features. The output from this process is a geographic information system (GIS) ready polygon hedgerow dataset complete with length, areas and condition indicator attributes.

“The key driver for this research has been to develop a rapid, low cost approach, requiring little operator interaction, to produce a hedgerow baseline that identifies the presence and extent of a hedgerow over large areas,” commented Steve Keyworth, Director of Aberystwyth based Environment Systems Ltd. “The key input is high resolution, four band, digital aerial imagery either from the Vexcel or ADS40 camera.”

The urban environment

While we all admire majestic tree lined streets and urban green spaces dotted with ancient oaks it would appear that it is all too easy to find a reason to remove them. In Whitehall, street trees were removed as part of the war on terror while in Islington ‘killer pear trees’ were destroyed. It has also been know for trees to be removed as they ‘got in the way’ of police surveillance cameras. In general there are three main reasons to remove a tree; the tree itself is considered dangerous, worries over subsidence and development or redevelopment projects.

Each year, about three people in the UK are killed by falling trees in public places – roughly equivalent to a risk of one in 20 million. Then bear in mind the UK’s Heath and Safety Executive considers a one-in-a-million risk as very low and the threshold for what is considered acceptable; contrast this with the risk of one-in-16,800 for an average Briton being killed in a car accident in any one year.

However, subsidence of houses is estimate to cost the insurance industry in excess of £500 million pounds after each dry year, and is usually the second most expensive insured peril, after fire. In the majority of cases, particularly on clay soils, trees are the main cause of subsidence. Concern about the location of trees is a major worry to house owners, not only when trees cause damage through subsidence but also because the proximity of trees can jeopardise house purchases, mortgage loans and even cause disputes between neighbours.

There also exists a British Standard (BS5837), which provides guidance in respect of development sites for a balanced approach on deciding which trees are appropriate for retention, on the effect of trees on design consideration and on the means of protecting trees during development. Local Authorities may well, therefore, require a Tree Report as part of a planning application.

While the above describes some of the negatives associated with urban trees it is only in the past decade or so that their benefits have been documented. For example we all know that trees can reduce urban temperatures by up to 4C (7F) therefore more urban canopy may prove essential as global warming takes effect. Urban trees, as does the rural hedgerow, also absorb floodwater, slow run off and absorb different kinds of pollution including particulate, chemical and noise.

With both sides of the argument considered Bluesky looked to develop a solution to help those charged with managing our tree assets. ProximiTREE is a brand new digital map layer accurately modelling the location and extent of trees and their proximity to buildings. Designed as a tool to aid insurance assessors, property developers and Local Authority Planners, ProximiTREE details the exact spatial location and height of individual trees together with the circumference of its canopy; from this information a determination can be made of the root extent and the potential impact on either existing or proposed properties.

ProximiTREE is an accurate map representation and database of tree heights and their canopy widths derived from aerial photography. A team of editors, trained in accurate photo-interpretation, examines aerial photos to identify the height of all crown and canopies visible within each photo. Once the highest point of each tree’s crown has been measured, actual tree heights are determined using an existing Digital Terrain Model (digital representation of ground surface topography or terrain).

Available in formats suitable for use in desktop Geographical Information Systems (GIS), web mapping applications and Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages ProximiTREE comprises of both 2D location and 3D height measurements so it can be viewed and interrogated in both 2D and 3D.

The final dataset enables the end user to analyse the spatial location, size and height of trees against existing vector mapping sources, address database information and orthorectified aerial photography to make informed decisions about the volume, proximity and potential risk of trees at a local level. Early trials of ProximiTREE data by UK local authorities have shown the data reduces the time (and therefore costs) taken to complete tree audits and reduced the need for costly site visits when issuing or enforcing Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs). Trials have also highlighted applications of the data within the planning process, highways maintenance and new planting and landscaping schemes.

Outside the Local Authority arena it is thought ProximiTREE may provide benefit to Utility companies where cable avoidance, either above or below ground, is critical to the maintenance and installation of electricity, water, gas and communications infrastructure. The Emergency Services may also benefit from prior knowledge about the location and extent of trees when considering access and route planning for major incidents or deploying equipment to the scene of an accident.

Aerial survey specialist Bluesky has reported its most successful year yet following a record-breaking aerial photography season. Bluesky’s aerial surveying contributed toward a total area of 32,000 sqkm that was captured for GeoPerspectives – the country’s most up-to-date digital aerial photomap – covering Britain’s cities and countryside stretching from Glasgow to the Scilly Isles. Bluesky employed the latest imaging technology that enables the creation of 3D computer-generated fly-through maps and infrared maps that reveal the type of vegetation on the ground. The imagery is now available and can be viewed at www.bluesky-world.com

During the 2009 Bluesky’s aircraft were able to capture several cities including Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds as well as counties such as Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire and Bedfordshire. “After successive years of dull summers we made the most many clear blue skies in 2009 and we broke all recent records for aerial surveying” commented James Eddy, Technical Director of Bluesky. “Aerial photography and derived map products continue to play an increasingly important part in the management of the natural environment and economic development and the creation of 3D cityscape models is the future of mapping”.

Bluesky use the latest digital imaging technology to capture aerial photography at ultra high resolution. All the areas flown to date will be produced in either 10cm, 12.5cm or 25cm resolution. The digital, map accurate datasets will be used to update the GeoPerspectives national archive of orthorectified aerial photography.

The aerial datasets are soon to be made available online at www.bluesky-world.com where visitors to the site can search, view and download digital image files. The Bluesky imagery is being used to produce digital terrain and surface models (DTM/DSM) for 3D modelling and complemented with colour infrared imagery (CIR), simultaneously captured, for vegetation analysis.

A new thermal sensor fitted to survey aircraft is set to revolutionise the way local councils tackle energy inefficiency and fuel poverty in Britain’s towns and cities. Part of a new generation thermal mapping system unveiled by aerial survey company Bluesky, the system captures and maps highly accurate measurements of heat-loss from buildings.

The system includes a state-of-the-art thermal survey camera, advanced navigation and positioning system and improved sensor control and user interface. Older systems use instruments originally designed for use in a laboratory or industrial plant environment, but Bluesky’s new sensor has been specifically designed for airborne surveying and provides higher precision results.

Conventional systems require continuous cooling of the camera environment and this can lead to variations in results and subsequent issues during post survey analysis over large geographical areas. The Bluesky ‘microbolometer’ thermal camera can perform nearer to the real ambient temperature around the camera making it more suitable for use in aircraft flying at night.

“We are delighted to be the first to market with this superior thermal mapping system – it is the only fully integrated geospatial thermal infrared system in use in the UK,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh Managing Director of Bluesky International. “It will enable us to significantly improve the accuracy and efficiency of data capture. This will in turn benefit organisations such as Local Authorities and environmental consultants that are trying to reduce carbon emissions through more targeted and therefore effective energy efficiency campaigns.”

As well as being designed to operate under conditions of rapidly changing ambient temperature, the Bluesky sensor is also capable of measuring within the optimal spectral range required to assess the emissivity from building roofs. The sensor has a spectral range of 1.5-14 µm (1µm = 1 millionth of metre), a temperature range of -40ºC to +120ºC and a camera resolution of 1240 x 480 pixels. Combined with an advanced navigation and positioning system that allows geo-referencing of the resulting heat-loss image to a high degree of accuracy, allowing Bluesky to offer an unrivalled thermal mapping service.

“This is just another step in our commitment to capture and deliver the most accurate and up to date property level heat-loss map data,” continued Tidmarsh. “We pride ourselves on our track record and our team of vastly experienced reconnaissance, flight planners and post survey analysts ensured we achieved complete fulfilment of last winters surveys totalling in excess of 2000 sqkm including many towns and districts across the UK.”