UAV Update
Thought I’d provide a brief update on some UAVs I was observing during some collaborative work with Wagengingen. Below is a short video of the Altura Pro AT8 octocopter (see the Altura website). What amazed me about this kit is that it is at the more serious drone end of the spectrum. The payloads can be higher (1.5-3.0kg), but it was the speed and maneuverability that was remarkable, whilst flying time was good (~40mins).
If you want coverage as per a fairly traditional aerial photography mission, then a fixed wing drone is the one to go for. Wageningen have a Mavinci Sirius which, whilst at the lower end of the technology spectrum, is particularly adept at capturing high quality imagery over large areas.
Future developments are clearly going in the direction of better quality cameras, hyperspectral imaging, longer flight times, heavier payloads, and better stability. We are pretty close to “version 3” products now - I can’t remember where I read it, but the adage goes that you should wait for a version 3 product to get something that is beyond “early adopter” and fit for market. Tesla electric cars, Leica ScanStation, Microsoft Windows to name but a few. We seem to be at the stage with UAVs with improved reliability, lower cost and a slow rationalisation of the market from small vendors to fewer larger companies.
Definitely a “watch this space” moment.
QGIS Under the Raedar
Really nice article from Alasdair - I can only echo his comments. QGIS has reached a nice level of maturity and usability and is now well worth the investment of time. I would add a couple of my own points to this:
1. Portability: just copy the QGIS folder on to your USB stick. It runs from there happily
2. Speed: for such a large application it is relatively fast.
I have been working on a project with colleagues at Wageningen (Saskia Keesstra and Niels Anders) involving some spatial processing using Python - this utilises shapefiles for data storage and QGIS is wonderfully rapid for loading, symbolising and querying data.
Open GIS Classes
Nice link to a range of open GIS classes at the Open Source GIS Blog. Worth a look…
WorldView 3 Up and Away
Yup, launched and shortly ready to rock-n-roll with 31cm imagery. Nice article by Jonathon Amos at the BBC
Crowd georeferencing at the British Library
A really nice georeferencing project over at the British Library that has been going on since 2011!! Scanned by Microsoft, the >3000 maps are available for the public to georeference so they can be overlaid with modern mapping. Thoroughly worthwhile project and a slick interface - watch the 57s video, log in, get going!
Studio of Objects: What is Paolozzi?
Quick link to a press release for a project I’m involved in….. should be very interesting to laser scan a studio. And its as much about the use of technology, as innovative ways of engaging wider audiences. There is a very strong art history link, but linking to education and engagement. Lots of scope for some creative work!!!
QGIS Chugiak Released
Just a brief note that QGIS Chugiak has been released. For those that haven’t used QGIS recently it is highly capable and becoming increasingly user friendly. Well well well worth further exploration. Also worth noting that by default it is a portable app - simply copy the QGIS folder on to your USB stick and run it directly from there! How cool is that?!
Britain’ Mapmakers
Nice blog on Major General William Roy over at the OS - and a really great link to a free e-book on Map-makers to Britain since 1791.
A-Level Students Forget Knowledge
“New students have forgotten bulk of A-level knowledge” reports The Times Higher Ed… well no real surprise there given what we already know about the forgetting curve. In fact its a bland study that has been repeated over and over - Eric Mazur’s work has shown that memorisation of facts is dangerous when you need to understand concepts
Best email of the day…..
Best email of the year actually… after some (slightly) slow customer service from Fast Lane couriers, they sorted my problem (well done!) and end by saying:
We hope we have resolved this matter to your satisfaction, and we look forward to welcoming you back in the future.
If I can be of any further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Heroic regards!
Dan McGeoghan
Fast Lane Support
Top one Dan - heroic email!!
Skybox Sold
As Ive noted before, micro satellites are a hot topic. So perhaps its no surprise that Google have snapped up Skybox. Lots going on in the spatial data arena at the moment….
Using OSM Data in QGIS
A nice practical guide to using OSM data in QGIS from download, to conversion, to styling
How to present your data
Two brilliantly simple animated slide decks at Dark Horse Analytics - the first on presenting tabular data and the second on presenting graphical data.
I regularly simplify my graphics and tables - many templates overstyle their design so simplifying is good. It also makes your design stand out from the rest because its different. These are REALLY well worth a look.
Android Mindmapping
I’m a big fan of mind mapping for blatting out ideas (using on a piece of paper!) and then structuring them in to an editable document. Freemind is my favoured desktop application and I then found (and bought) the rather excellent Thinking Space for Android. That was subsequently bought by Mindjet to complement their commercial MindManager product. They have released several incremental updates but the core product remains largely the same, albeit with interaction with their online cloud storage which requires you to subscribe. MindJet supports the same file format as Freemind and, rather helpfully, once you’ve logged in for the first time you can change the storage location to local files (Settings->Other->Device) and then logout and continue using Mindjet (at least with the older v3.7 I am using). It works remarkably well on a small screen and allows you to carry, view and edit your mindmaps. Worth the download.
Brancaster Staithe Gigapan
A vista of the coastline at Brancaster Staithe looking north across Scolt Head Island….. the students we took on fieldwork won’t recognise this view as there is no rain…..