NPP Hemisphere
Great complete Earth hemisphere over at NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day, explaining how it was made and the strips of sunglint visible in each strip of imagery.
posted on: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Powers of Ten
I recently came across the Powers of Ten Flipbook, a wonderful odyssey in to the world of remote sensing....
posted on: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Pleiades First Images
Some really nice sample images from Pleiades.
posted on: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
TanDEM Update
Jonathan Amos gives a good overview of the TanDEM mission to date - well worth a read for those new-ish to DEMs and this particular mission. Makes good reading!
posted on: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Digital Globe Image of the Year 2011
Nice catch from GoGeo..... Digital Globe best image 2011. Well worth a look!
posted on: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
New US Army Drones
Nice article over at the BBC on new US Army drones. Helicopter based for VTOL, they sport a 1.8GP (yes, thats gigapixel) video camera capable of real time video feed at 10 frames per second, allowing multiple target tracking up to altitudes of 6000m. Nice.
posted on: Fri, 30 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
BBC Year in satellite imagery
Really nice set of images over at the BBC highlighting aspects of 2011 using satellite imagery. Shame there isn't more detail on the sensor etc, but a powerful reminder of events.
posted on: Sun, 25 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
First imagery returned from Pleiades
Nice articles by Jonathon Amos on the release of first imagery by Pleiades and the critical role played by British CCD manufacturer e2v. Some sample imagery at Astrium for the moment.
posted on: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
KAP Camera Settings
Capturing aerial imagery from KAP can be a hit and miss affair (although far less so with digital cameras) and therefore setting the camera up carefully prior to imaging is essential....
posted on: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Pleiades 1 Launched
Pleiades 1 has now been launched and give Europe similar commercial imaging capabilities as the US. Slightly more detail (but older) here showing the 50cm coverage over four bands. Also confirms the future launch of SPOT 6 and 7 to provide a high resolution constellation family. The BBC also provided good coverage as this was somewhat of an unusual launch as it came from a Russian Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana. See the launch in all its glory!
posted on: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
First global image from NPP VIIRS
NASAs Earth Observatory have posted the first global image from VIIRS on NPP. This is a great start to demonstrate the capabilities of VIIRS; and for those doing introductory courses in remote sensing the accompanying notes nicely explain why we have sun-synchronous orbits and why there is variation in the imaging of the global composite.
posted on: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Netherlands KAPping
I'm currently involved in a project led by Paolo Paron (UNESCO-IHE) looking at beach development in the Netherlands....
posted on: Sat, 03 Dec 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
NPP Launch
NPP launched a few weeks back and has just sent back its first imagery. Jonathon Amos (over at the BBC) has an interesting article discussing the importance of weather satellites to remote sensing and society more widely....
posted on: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Landsat 5 Anomaly
Not a healthy outlook for Landsat 5 27 years after launch. Mind you, its not bad for a 3 year life expectancy!!
posted on: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
SSTL to build SAR
Interesting article by Jonathan Amos about the announcement of SSTL to build a SAR satellite (complete end-to-end at 50M euro). Quite a departure for them and sure to provide a lift to the market. Watch this space as they say.
posted on: Tue, 04 Oct 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Back to KAP
I spent a day with Paolo Paron (co-editor of our book on Geomorphological Mapping) kicking off a new kite aerial photography project....
posted on: Tue, 04 Oct 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
NigeriaSat-2 active
NigeriaSat-2, the UK designed and build 2.5m micro-satellite, is now collecting imagery after its successful launch in August. The first image is over Salt Lake City and demonstrates the quality of the new 2.5m sensor. As the article notes, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, cost a total of £30M which included training in design and build of their own satellite. A remarkable knowledge transfer partnership.
posted on: Wed, 28 Sep 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
GAMBIT and HEXAGON Declassified
Two of the later US spy satellites were declassified this weekend; Very Spatial have a nice summary, but also look at the Wikipedia page and USGS page on declassified imagery. What none of the press releases make clear is whether all the imagery will become available now that the satellites have been declassified; one would assume yes, although this will take time to filter through. And it looks like the headline spatial resolution is about 30 cm.
posted on: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Apollo Moon Landings
Vook have published a short book on the Apollo Moon Landings for the Kindle. Currently free, its a handy (Wikipedia-esque) intro for those interested.
posted on: Fri, 09 Sep 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
LRO images moon landings
NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been the talk of the wires recently. LRO is part of NASAs mission to go back to the moon and carries seven instruments on board, the most pertinent for geomorphologists being the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera....
posted on: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
DLR SRTM Data Now Freely Available
This announcement passed me by and seems to have been missed by quite a few other blogs..... and for those not in the know, SRTM is a global DEM product collected on a space shuttle mission a decade ago. What was perhaps unusual was that TWO different sensors were used to collect the data creating two different products. NASA freely released its data for the world at 90 m resolution, but only 30 m data was available for the US. The DLR sold its data at 25m resolution, high vertical accuracy, but not entire coverage. This latter product is now free and available from EOWEB.
posted on: Sat, 06 Aug 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Gatewing UAV
Nice article on the Gatewing X100. In short:
Wing - fixed wing, 100cm
Weight - 2.0 kg (including payload)
Material - Carbon reinforced EPP structure
Propulsion - Electric, lipo battery
Altitude - 100 m to 750 m AGL
Launch - catpult
Cruise speed - 75 km/h average
Currently equipped with a 10MP camera and can stay aloft of 30 minutes to capture (alot of) stereo imagery. Subsequent processing allows production of orthophotos and DEMs.
Price: a paultry $70,000
posted on: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
IJGIS Special Issue: Geological Applications of Digital Terrain Analysis
May be of interest to some.
Deadline for submissions: 15 November 2011
Expected dates for publications: August 2012
Topography is the manifestation of diverse endogenic and exogenic geologic processes that are dynamic and thus continually shape our planet....
posted on: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Dynamic Landsat Archive
ESRI have released their Change Matters Viewer which provides dynamic access to the USGS Landsat archive and allows you to explore change over time using pre-defined band combinations. Its a good tool to demonstrate the utility and power of geoinformation and the importance of maintaining an archive. OK, its not a "power" tool but the interface is engaging and easy to use. Also a useful blog entry here.
posted on: Wed, 04 May 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Meet the Messenger....
NASAs Messenger entered orbit around Mercury a few weeks back. These are exciting times for exploring the solar system and there hasn't been an orbiting satellite around Mercury before, although imagery was sent back by Mariner 10 in the mid-1970s during a flyby. Anyway, we now have the first imagery from orbit. Expect a flurry of rapid academic papers from the plethora of data to follow.
posted on: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
LiDAR for Dummies
DLT and Autodesk have just published a small booklet, LiDAR for Dummies. It's hardly a state-of-the-art textbook, but it does succinctly summarise the operation of LiDAR. At least worth a quick look at given its free.
posted on: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
LiDAR Hacking
Great article on lidar hacking over at Lidar News. Need I say more....
posted on: Thu, 02 Dec 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Synth Export
This just hit my desk from the excellent ISPRS Commission V on Close-Range Sensing (and check out the useful "Tips" section):
Photosynth has suddenly become a lot more interesting now that there is a useful utility to extract data from your synths!...
posted on: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
TanDEM Mission now operational
The TanDEM mission is now operational. I blogged on the launch of TanDEM-X earlier this summer, but this link is worth a read just to highlight how unique a mission this is and also to look forward to seeing what the data is like.
posted on: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Map World
Map World has been released by China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping using imagery collected over the last four years. Its interesting to see another "take" on the Google Maps idea; its not bad but no where near as slick as Google's service. The BBC provide a more detailed review with this snippet quite useful:
Within the nation's borders, images have a 2.5m resolution in rural areas and can go down to 0.6m resolution in 300 cities. Beyond its borders, images have a 500m resolution and many nations are blank when users zoom in.
One to watch simply because its a completely different set of data.
posted on: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
dlgv32 Pro Viewer
FGT recently blogged about the free USGS dlgv32 Pro viewer. This provides some of the history to Global Mapper which I wasn't aware of in my earlier post. OK, so it's not quite the swiss army knife of RS software that Global Mapper is, but still damn useful.
posted on: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Google Earth Imagery Updates
The Google Earth blog is one well worth monitoring for useful titbits. This recent post explains how often imagery is updated. This is a crucial point as it is not always obvious what the currency is and how the "patch work" of dates varies. They note a policy of trying to keep all imagery less than 3 years old, although this isn't always possible. Don't forget that they store (historic) archive imagery and also provide a KML file showing where the updates are. Useful stuff.
posted on: Tue, 05 Oct 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
SSTL Developing Three new satellites
SSTL have just announced the development of three new satellites in a £100M investment. What's interesting with this announcement is that it's a partnership between SSTL and its data processing subsidiary DMCii and will be operated commercially, leasing time on the satellites to nations that would otherwise not be able to afford their own satellite.
posted on: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Alsat-1 decommissioned
A really nice PR blog entry over at SSTL on the decommissioning of Alsat-1, SSTLs first DMC satellite. Its a really nice example of a fit-for-purpose satellite, new low-cost technology and meeting the environmental needs of developing nations. Well worth a read.
posted on: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Mainstream Land Surveying
Good catch over at LiDAR News on an article by Mike Pinkerton, a surveyor in New Zealand reviewing the change that laser scanning is having on the industry. Worth a read.
posted on: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
TLS Round-up
GIM have a nice roundup of current terrestrial laser scanners which is well worth a look at. Select from the (limited!) list and see how comparable they are.
posted on: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
New CEO for Intermap
Interesting article over at All Points on the CEO of Intermap stepping down. The author has declared an interest in being a shareholder, but takes a fairly hard line on the state of Intermap who's share price is currently pretty low and potentially ripe for takeover. They have put alot of momentum behind NextMap and the collection of data for the USA and Europe. Is this the right direction to take? Time will tell, although it has seen hugely successful take up in the UK and perhaps this was part of the reason for expanding collection over much larger areas.
posted on: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Google to use UAVs?
Blogoscoped and PCPro are reporting a recent interview from Microdrones CEO where he noted Google having recently purchased one of their UAVs. OK, so lets be clear, these aren't the same as the Global Hawk. They are small, programmable, multi-propeller drones that are ideally suited to collected imagery over relatively small areas. Their "top of the range" kit has a cruising speed of 15 m/s, flying time of 70mins and payload of ~1kg. So Big Brother it ain't, but it certainly is a useful addition for the collection of close range imagery.
posted on: Mon, 09 Aug 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Open Topography NLAS Project
I blogged a while back about the Open Topography portal. It's worth taking a looking back at their mission statement:
"to build an online system that provides integrated access to high-resolution topographic data, web-based processing tools, and enables the user community to share knowledge, experiences and resources"
For those interested in software tools they provide software for point cloud visualisation and DEM generation....
posted on: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
Remote control LiDAR
lidar news report on an interesting transit project monitoring a section of tunnel twice daily to identify any internal changes to the infrastucture. The system is totally unmanaged and housed within protective casing. Upto 1Gb of data is collected and fed back via EVDO wifi modem. Whilst most lidar kit is far from being reliable, well-honed, products, this does demonstrate growing maturity in the market.
posted on: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 | path: /remote_sensing | permanent link to this entry
|
