At Public Lab, we've grown the Grassroots Mapping community into a broader effort to enable communities to understand and respond to environmental threats with DIY techniques.
A kite aerial photography field report
Date of flight: January 27, 2013
Site: North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, Vermont
Occasion: Ice on Fire deep winter celebration
http://publiclaboratory.org/sites/default/files/imagefield_thumbs/IMG_02...
That tree between the pines likes to fly kites. I was a little upset with it because it was my kite. The tree finally got bored after about 45 minutes and let go so I am not too upset. It took me a couple of hours to find the kite but when I did there was absolutely no damage to it. I love Tyvek! The wind was very gusty and the line got snagged by the tree during an extended lull.
Wintercamp activities included working on simplifying the kite build. From the left. A pocket for the spar spreader that we were not really happy with. Next is the mini-caribener and pex plastic pipe. This was the standard attachment. The solution we arrived with eliminated the additional parts. Next are 3 mock-ups of folded pockets. The last item is the almost final form.
http://publiclaboratory.org/sites/default/files/imagefield_thumbs/IMG_00...
cross-posted from PBS's IdeaLab
Public Lab's balloon- and kite-based mapping approach is a new way to take aerial images from the ground. However, there are some considerations and things that can be learned from a few map stories.
Each map project has distinct characteristics in its time, place, and local atmospheric conditions. Here are several examples of how those factors make each balloon and kite map unique.
LAKE MERRITT (OAKLAND, CALIF.)
Published originally on my website
About two months ago, on June 12th, we woke up to the sounds of heavy machinery. Through the window we saw a bulldozer and a crane uprooting olive trees from the area behind our house. We went outside and stood in front of the bulldozer and caused its operator to stop working. The crane continued to work, so we jumped on a tree. By doing so we prevented the work for about a month and saved 1 out of 4 trees that were uprooted at that day.
If anybody is interested in ground control point targets for aerial photography, I can leave here this North arrow for you to print (courtesy of the Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).
This was a bit lost in the hubbub over the Google announcement, but a few weeks ago we added a feature to order a print directly from MapKnitter and from the PLOTS map archive. Users can now click-through directly from their map details page. Public Laboratory map production is working towards a end-to-end open source solution:
This was a bit lost in the hubbub over the Google announcement, but a few weeks ago we added a feature to order a print directly from MapKnitter and from the PLOTS map archive. Users can now click-through directly from their map details page. Public Laboratory map production is working towards a end-to-end open source solution:
I got the MK111 timer all wired up and integrated into the PLOTS Visible/NIR Camera Tool payload. I still have to endurance test the two 4LR44 batteries, but I will wait to do that in the air -- no reason to waste two $1 batteries and not get any aerial photos.
I got the MK111 timer all wired up and integrated into the PLOTS Visible/NIR Camera Tool payload. I still have to endurance test the two 4LR44 batteries, but I will wait to do that in the air -- no reason to waste two $1 batteries and not get any aerial photos.
Are you embroiled in an cartographic dispute? Do you disagree with the official version of your geography? Contact us through the public mailing list.
Grassroots Mapping is part of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science, founded by a group of activists, educators, technologists, and community organizers interested in new ways to promote action, intervention, and awareness through a participatory research model.
We're now trying to learn from our balloon mapping experiences to develop new DIY tools with a variety of local communities. This is an open community and you are welcome to join, and encouraged to contribute!
Purchase the Grassroots Mapping Forum, our new community research journal/archive/zine/map, where we hope to share ideas, techniques, and stories from the Grassroots Mapping community. It is printed on a single 22.75x35" newsprint sheet, folded down to just over letter size, and includes a full color reproduction of a grassroots map along with essays, illustrated guides, and interviews on the reverse.
You can find out more, and purchase the first issue here for $17 shipped.
We're helping citizens to use balloons, kites, and other simple and inexpensive tools to produce their own aerial imagery of the spill… documentation that will be essential for environmental and legal use in coming yeas.We believe in complete open access to spill imagery and are releasing all imagery into the public domain.
You can see all of our data here: http://publiclab.org/archive/.
Browse some of our best imagery on Flickr.
Techniques and tools for people who want to make maps, on the Public Laboratory wiki. Includes readings and case studies on grassroots mapping projects.
You are currently browsing the archives for the kite-mapping category.
Instructions on how to use cameras on weather balloons to create high-resolution maps.
Want to start mapping? See the Balloon Mapping Materials List to get started.
