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Bluesky Services Case Studies

Flying

Broads Authority - 17 December 2004

Aerial photography company Bluesky has created a digital photo-map of a large area of the Norfolk Broads on behalf of the Broads Authority. The total area flown will comprise 557 sq kilometres of the Broads Executive Area, which covers all the river valleys in the area. Flown at 25cm ground resolution the photography provides a detailed snap shot of the region for the purposes of conservation, planning and day to day management of this popular tourist area.

The Norfolk Broads is a unique area of water, grazing marshes, fen and woodland, and home to some of Britain's rarest plants and creatures. The country's largest protected wetland, the Broads is designated under separate legislation with a similar status to a National Park but also meets the requirement for the particular interest of navigation. The Authority has an archive of aerial photography dating back to the mid 1970s but digital files for use within a Geographic Information System have only been available since 1999. Bluesky completed 75% of the flying programme in 2004 with the balance scheduled for May 2005 to coincide with new reed growth amongst the wetland vegetation.

"The aerial photography has many uses and users, ranging from conservation management to planning applications and enforcement" said Conservation Officer Sue Stephenson. "Since this is a largely man made environment with much of the area below sea level its very important for us to be able to actually see the impact of previous work such as scrub clearance, plan new work and monitor change over time. The photography is used in our GIS where we can overlay maps and previously flown imagery. It is especially useful for planning future management scenarios, for example we are looking closely at the possibility of returning areas adjacent to the floodplain to a more semi-natural habitat, and working from an aerial perspective is extremely useful in such visioning exercises."

Scanning

Natural Environmental Research Council - 22 February 2006

Bluesky International has been awarded a contract to create a digital archive of aerial photography for the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC). The project, which was commissioned by the NERC Earth Observation Data Centre (NEODC) who are based at the CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot, is due to be completed within twelve months and involves the digitisation of approximately 43,200 images and the capture of information relating to these images.

Bluesky, a specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing, was awarded the contract based on technical merit and previous experience. The company operates two high-end scanning machines, (Vexcel Ultrascan 5000 Photogrammetric Flatbed Scanners) and has a team of experienced and dedicated personnel. The NEODC contract covers the scanning of their aerial photography archive that is an estimated 43,200 unique images dating back to 1982. The photographs were taken by the NERC Airborne Research and Survey Facility aircraft, predominantly in the UK but also at other sites in Europe, including the Mediterranean and the Arctic. The images are housed at the British Geological Survey headquarters near Nottingham. In addition to the scanning process, which will produce high-resolution digital image files, the project will also create a database of information pertaining to each image. For example date of the photography, location and additional site reference information together with information relating to the camera or aircraft.

"This project has many aims. By converting these images into digital files we are ensuring the long-term future of the data, the project will also increase our knowledge of the imagery that we hold," said Dr Victoria Jay, Data Scientist. "This archive is extremely valuable as it provides a unique record of environmental change over the past 20 years and once complete, it is hoped that the easy accessibility of the digital imagery will encourage use within our community and reduce the amount of time and resource we dedicate to servicing request for images."

The project was commissioned by NEODC as part of their role in supporting the Council's earth observation community in locating, accessing, interpreting and exploiting Earth Observation data and ensuring the long term integrity of Earth Observation datasets produced and acquired by NERC projects and programmes.

Photogrammetry

Crew Gold Corporation - 04 April 2005

Aerial photography company Bluesky has created a series of contour maps, terrain models and perspective views from archived black and white aerial photography to aid site and infrastructure development for an export quarry and crushing works in Fiskefjord, a remote site in West Greenland. The project to extract Olivine* a mineral used mainly in the steel industry is a venture led by Crew Gold Corporation; commercial extraction is scheduled to commence in 2006.

The spectacular Greenland landscape is loathe to give up its secrets; snow capped for much of the year and subject to unstable weather it is difficult and expensive to mobilise land surveyors in a region as remote as this. In normal circumstances it would be possible to task a satellite and use the resulting stereo imagery for much of the survey work but with no guaranteed weather windows it would be hard to justify the expense until May or June 2005 delaying the project unnecessarily.

The solution was archived aerial photography created approximately 40 years ago by KMS the Danish Mapping Agency. The black and white stereo photos flown at 1:150,000 scale were scanned and processed by Bluesky to a 2 metre vertical accuracy producing contour maps, terrain models complete with perspective views of the proposed development area. The next stage will be to produce more detailed maps using GPS ground control points collected on site.

"We found ourselves approaching the winter without any detailed ground maps of the area and although we had taken some initial GPS readings we did not have any maps of the site and its environs which we need to continue with the work on road building and drainage for the project," explained Brian Sprately, Vice President of Project Development from Crew. "The site is only 90km from the capital but in Greenland that's a very long way with many places only accessible by helicopter. Surveying in the winter is next to impossible so this solution works very well. Bluesky worked very fast and were able to take the photography and provide us with exactly what we required to continue our work to keep the project on schedule," continued Brian Sprately.