Aerial survey specialist Bluesky has released what is thought to be one of the very first aerial surveys of London. A series of vertical photographs, flown during 1917 following the path of River Thames, are now available online at www.oldaerialphotos.com. This historically significant collection by a Royal Fusilier in the British Army, whilst part of the ‘North Russian Relief Force’ a British led multi-national force to counter the Russian Bolshevic Revolution.

Visitors to www.oldaerialphotos.com can already search through more than a million aerial photos dating back as far as the 1940s 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.

“This is a significant acquisition for both www.oldaerialphotos.com and the wider aerial survey industry,” commented David Drabble, Archive Manager at Bluesky. “Despite extensive research we cannot find evidence to dispute the fact that this is the earliest ever aerial survey of London and as such it offers a valuable record of the capital towards the end of the First World War. We would be interested to hear if anyone knows of an earlier survey.”

The original photographs were contained in a family album owned by a retired RAF helicopter pilot. Taken by his Grandfather, a Royal Fusilier during WWI, who was attached to the Royal Flying Corps towards the end of the war and then stationed in Russia with the 45^th Royal Fusiliers. The photographs include iconic images from the time including other Army, Royal Naval and the newly formed RAF personnel, buildings, plans and Russian peasant’s. In addition to the ‘formal’ survey of the River Thames, the collection also includes other aerial shots of trenches and other war defence infrastructure. 

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, including oblique aerial photographs. Offering a record of most major UK cities and towns, transport and utility infrastructure and commercial property developments, www.oldaerialphotos.com is an invaluable resource for anyone with a personal or professional interest in local studies, genealogy, boundary disputes, environmental land use research or town planning.

Website: www.bluesky-world.com

Editorial enquiries, contact Robert Peel on tel. +44 (0)1666 823306

Colour separation requests – please fax only to +44 (0)1666 824 668

All reader enquiries to Bluesky sales on +44 (0)1530 518 518

About Bluesky

Bluesky is a UK-based specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing.  An internationally recognised leader with projects extending around the globe, Bluesky is proud to work with prestigious organisations such as Google, the BBC and Government Agencies. Bluesky has unrivalled expertise in the creation of seamless, digital aerial photography, 3D landscape/cityscape visualisations and prints and also runs a national mapping centre, providing digital mapping, satellite imagery and aerial photography including ultra-high resolution imagery of cities and towns.

http://www.bluesky-world.com

Aerial survey specialist Bluesky has launched a new digital map layer, which accurately models 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 provides 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 buildings.

Building subsidence is estimated to cost the insurance industry in excess of £500 million after each dry year and is usually the second most expensive insured peril after fire. 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, insurance claims, planning applications, mortgage loans and may even cause disputes between neighbours. 

“ProximiTREE is designed to provide an easy-to-use reference base for all decisions relating to the location of trees and their proximity to either existing or proposed developments,” commented James Eddy, Operations Director at Bluesky. “Derived from the most detailed and up-to-date aerial photography it is suitable for use by property developers, Local Authority users and insurance companies in fact any one involved in the ownership, management or development of property close to trees.”

ProximiTREE is derived from the most accurate and up to date aerial photography. Using overlapping images the exact location of every tree can be mapped and the height and extent of its canopy derived. ProximiTREE is suitable for use in most desktop Geographical Information Systems (GIS), web mapping applications and Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages. Both 2D and 3D versions of the map are available and ProximiTREE works alongside existing Bluesky datasets such as 3D buildings, terrain models and aerial imagery.

Website: www.bluesky-world.com

Editorial enquiries, contact Robert Peel on tel. +44 (0)1666 823306

Colour separation requests – please fax only to +44 (0)1666 824 668

All reader enquiries to Bluesky sales on +44 (0)1530 518 518

Notes for editors

Bluesky is a UK-based specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing.  An internationally recognised leader with projects extending around the globe, Bluesky is proud to work with prestigious organisations such as Google, the BBC and Government Agencies.

Bluesky has unrivalled expertise in the creation of seamless, digital aerial photography, 3D landscape/cityscape visualisations and prints and also runs a national mapping centre, providing digital mapping, satellite imagery and aerial photography including ultra-high resolution imagery of cities and towns.

Bluesky’s aerial survey aircraft made the most of the blue skies over the UK to capture 12,000 sqkm of high resolution imagery of Britain’s cities and countryside. Bluesky’s ambitious flying programme includes a five-year update programme for the GeoPerspectives national archive as well as ultra high resolution surveys of cities across the country.

Urban areas captured during May and June include Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Burnley, Blackburn and Milton Keynes together with county coverage of Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, most of Surrey and the remaining areas of South and West Yorkshire.

“2008 and 2007 were both poor years for the UK aerial survey market with many companies struggling to get survey planes off the ground let alone capture significant amounts of data,” commented James Eddy, Operations Director at Bluesky. “We have flying contractors strategically located to cover the country, scrutinising weather conditions and forecasts, in order to make the most of any opportunity to fly. However we will not compromise on quality and we will only produce data from images flown during optimum conditions once it has passed our rigorous quality assurance process.”     

Bluesky use the latest digital imaging technology to capture aerial photography at ultra high resolution. All the areas flown to date will be produced as 10cm or 12.5cm resolution, digital, map accurate datasets and will be used to update the GeoPerspectives (a joint venture between Bluesky and Infoterra) national archive of orthorectified aerial photography.

The aerial datasets will, in due course be available online at http://www.bluesky-world.com where visitors to the site can search, view and download digital image files. The Bluesky imagery will also be 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.

Bluesky is a UK-based specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing.  An internationally recognised leader with projects extending around the globe, Bluesky is proud to work with prestigious organisations such as Google, the BBC and Government Agencies.

Bluesky has unrivalled expertise in the creation of seamless digital aerial photography, 3D landscape/cityscape visualisations and prints and also runs a national mapping centre, providing digital mapping, satellite imagery and aerial photography including ultra-high resolution imagery of cities and towns.

Website: www.bluesky-world.com

Editorial enquiries, contact Robert Peel on tel. +44 (0)1666 823306

Colour separation requests – please fax only to +44 (0)1666 824 668

All reader enquiries to Bluesky sales on +44 (0)1530 518 518

Notes to editors:

Bluesky is a UK-based specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing.  An internationally recognised leader with projects extending around the globe, Bluesky works with prestigious organisations such as Google, the BBC and Government Agencies.

Bluesky has unrivalled expertise in the creation of seamless digital aerial photography, 3D landscape/cityscape visualisations and prints and also runs a national mapping centre, providing digital mapping, satellite imagery and aerial photography including ultra-high resolution imagery of cities and towns

Aerial photography specialist Bluesky has acquired the UK’s largest collection of commercial aerial survey photographs and will be making it available online. Following an agreement between Bluesky and Blom Aerofilms, photographs dating from the 1950s, held on about 7,000 original films, will be available to purchase from www.oldaerialphotos.com.

Many of the images have not previously been available to purchase online. These were captured by some of the most prestigious names in the UK aerial survey industry, including Fairey, Huntings, Simmons, Clyde and Engineering Surveys – all part of Blom Aerofilms’s UK heritage. The agreement also covers the housing and management of the original films at Bluesky’s dedicated film archive facility.

Visitors to http://www.oldaerialphotos.com can already search through nearly a million aerial photos dating back to the early part of the last century by simply entering a postcode, address or grid reference. Detailed search results, including the age and ground coverage of every photo that matches the search criteria are displayed and the visitor can choose to purchase either a hard copy print or digital image file.

The enormous task of processing the films and transferring information about the imagery to the online search engine will take place at Bluesky’s image processing facility in Coalville, Leicestershire.  This is likely to take quite some time.

For Blom Aerofilms, these images represent a 90-year history of the company as one of Europe’s leading specialists in aerial imagery, plotting work undertaken over many years for local authorities, public bodies and commercial organisations across the UK and beyond.  “It’s a unique and specialist collection, and we hope that many people with both a commercial and personal interest will find it as valuable and informative as we have,” commented Gavin Lewis, Sales and Marketing Director at Blom Aerofilms.

“Anyone with an interest in the UK aerial survey will have heard of the above companies and will be excited by the fact that the photos, for the first time ever, will now be available online,” commented David Drabble, Archive Manager at Bluesky. “For those less familiar with the industry it is probably more significant that these historically important photos are being added to what is already the UK’s largest online collection of aerial photography, making oldaerialphotos.com a one stop shop for anyone with a personal or professional interest in the past.”

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

Website: www.bluesky-world.com

Editorial enquiries, contact Robert Peel on tel. +44 (0)1666 823306

Colour separation requests – please fax only to +44 (0)1666 824 668

All reader enquiries to Bluesky sales on +44 (0)1530 518 518

About Bluesky

Bluesky is a UK-based specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing.  An internationally recognised leader with projects extending around the globe, Bluesky is proud to work with prestigious organisations such as Google, the BBC and Government Agencies. Bluesky has unrivalled expertise in the creation of seamless, digital aerial photography, 3D landscape/cityscape visualisations and prints and also runs a national mapping centre, providing digital mapping, satellite imagery and aerial photography including ultra-high resolution imagery of cities and towns.

www.bluesky-world.com

About Blom Aerofilms

BLOM Aerofilms Ltd is part of the BLOM group, Europe’s leading provider of aerial photography and digital mapping solutions for civil engineering design, environmental assessment and land information management. Blom employs more than 1,100 staff in twelve offices and production units across Europe. The company provides a complete range of mapping services including aerial photography, GIS base mapping, orthophoto production, geo-spatial solutions and airborne laser-scanning. Recent developments include BlomUrbex, an off-the-shelf library of high resolution oblique imagery integrated with a powerful measuring tool. 

www.blomaerofilms.com