How to use pidgeons in aerial photography.

1. Strap a camera on to a pigeon.

2. Make sure you know it's flight path and speed.

3. Set camera to take pictures at regular intervals.

Well, if only it were that easy.  Amazingly enough it has been done before.  Generally when we think of an aerial platform, we assume it is going to be a helicopter, UAV, or some form of fixed wing aircraft.  Historically speaking, aerial photography has been around as long as Wilbur and Orville Wright and even longer.  One of the methods used was actually pigeons.  In fact "in 1903, Dr. Julius Neubronner patented a miniature pigeon camera activated by a timing mechanism. Equipped with the cameras, the pigeons photographed a castle in Kronberg, Germany, around 1908" (http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/lae/SCRIPT/be_first2.htm).

The basics of this would involve knowing the pigeons flight path, the speed at which the pidgeon flies, and maybe the altitude of the bird.  As was demonstrated, it would then be possible to take photos at certain time intervals.  I found a lot of info just by googling pigeon aerial photography.  Give it a look, it is quite interesting.

Surdex is Hiring

The link is from USpilot.com and reads:

Details
Title  Pilot – Aerial Photography

Description    Surdex Corporation, a St. Louis Missouri based, leading nation-wide provider of
aerial photography, and mapping services for federal, state, local governments, and private
industry, is seeking experienced pilots. Preference given to experienced high-altitude Turbine
Photo Pilots with the USDA NAIP program. Candidate must possess at a minimum, COM/INST/MEL
certificate, 1,000 hours PIC, 300 hours multi. Surdex operates C-441, C-404, C-340 & C-206.
Out-of-town travel and deployment required. Competitive pay and benefits. Applications accepted
only via e-mailed cover letter and resume including relevant qualifications and compensation
requirements to: Human Resources, Surdex Corporation, 520 Spirit of St. Louis Blvd.,
Chesterfield, MO 63005 or e-mail to: hr@surdex.com. Visit www.surdex.com EOE/M/F/D/V

for more information sign up for a free account at uspilot.com.  I also recommend checking out the Surdex website. The link can be found at the right in the companies worth noting section or at http://www.surdex.com/positionsmoredetails.aspx?id=80.  I would get it while it is hot.

'Up in the Air's' aerial shots took some ingenuity -- latimes.com

The Photography is just beautiful, check it out.

'Up in the Air's' aerial shots took some ingenuity -- latimes.com

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Local Weather Report

Check out the Local Accuweather Weather in the weather widget and you will notice that aerial survey is near impossible here in the southwest.  One of the things to consider when planning a mapping mission is how much visibility is required to complete a mission properly.  Not only is the visibility less than three miles, the cloud base in most of the southwest is about 2000 feet above the ground.  To complicate matters, if ground visibility is important at the time of the mission (and it usually is), then the ground is almost all white today due to continued snowfall.  That makes finding those white ground control points slightly difficult, and aerial photography nearly impossible.

I Just Found this Blog

If you are looking for a blog with similar interests, look at the Colorado Aerial Photography Newsletter and Blog.  Just click on the link for Colorado Aerial Photography in the Aerial Survey Companies Worth Noting Links to the right to go to the company homepage or http://coloradoaerial.blogspot.com/ for their blog.

What Is It Used For

Aerial surveys and remote sensing techniques can be applied to many different applications.  Often aerial surveys offer county assessors, city planners, developer, engineers and others a way to look at a high quality, high resolution photo to be able to make informed decisions.  This can also be used by industries such as forestry to track changes in tree growth, or animal migrations.  There are even ways through remote sensing that a soil analysis can be conducted, ways to map archeological sites or find illicit drugs such as the example in the link for the article Hidden Villa marijuana raid nets 32,000 plants.  My favorite use is definetely aerial survey, just for the fact that surveying is one of the oldest professions known to man, and just by the fact that we live in a beautiful world.  For a more in depth look at this topic, click the link below.

http://www.schoolsintheusa.com/careerprofiles_details.cfm?carid=334

Welcome to the Aerial Mapping & Aviation Methods and Technologies Blog.

Welcome to the Aerial Mapping Aviation Methods and Technologies Blog. I hope you find this blog of interest in the fields of Aerial Mapping, Photogrammetry, surveying, GIS, and many more subjects along this line of thought to also include aviation safety. We will discuss the mapping industry, its methods, history, and technology and how it affects us in our daily lives. We will look at many interesting diversions in many different formats. I am glad you could join me, and hope you find it informative