What I want to do

Picture Post (map of locations) is a pathway for citizen science where a stable post/platform is installed in an area of interest that allows anyone passing by to place their camera down & take images in nearly the same relatively fixed position in 8 directions as well as 1 of the sky to capture change over time from a relatively fixed position (picturepost.smugmug.com is now picturepost.unh.edu)--another approach to crowdsourced ecology & stems from an idea by former Polaroid engineer, David Bean.

I want to expand on existing Picture Post locations in New York/Boston/New Orleans with visible & Infragram pics added into their Upload System as a test. Then, add more picture posts locations at community gardens, vacant lots, urban parks, farmers markets, urban lots, etc.

More background & history on PicturePost & projects related to Infragram:

In the stuff you can do section, Picture Posts lists adopt a leaf/tree diameter/canopy/season as well as free Digital Earth Watch software for analyzing pictures--could use the new plugins associated with Public Lab contributors.

Digital Earth Watch is housed out of UC-Berkeley's The Lawrence Hall of Science: Global Systems Science has a connection to Picture Post with ideas,investigations, plans,investigations & examples. However, DEW does not list as much on How to Take Pictures in the Near Infrared, specifically on what inexpensive equipment can be used. DEW's equipment page lists expensive NIR cameras (they may be interested in Public Lab's Infragram project).

DEW lists partners on Measuring Vegetation Health (MVH) with a number of organizations, including Museum of Science, Boston.

Boston Museum of Science, Exhibit Hall Interpreters, Angela Damery lists activities on: NIR & fabrics.

Some prior work on Picture Post is mentioned in a My NASA Data post.

http://lawrencehallofscience.org/gss/dew/about/educators.html http://dew.globalsystemsscience.org/key-messages/near-infrared-and-the-electromagnetic-spectrum

My attempt and results

I attempted to go to the New York Botanical Garden, but unfortunately, nature was not allowed on Mondays as NYBG is closed to the public on Monday (I just assumed parks/zoo/gardens were 24/7). I will try to follow up before leaving New York to get the shot in Infragram.

The NY PicturePost is in the Thain Family Forest & is one of the largest remaining remnants of the forest that once covered most of New York City.

Questions and next steps

Questions I will need an approach to adding infrared imagery to their data.

Would I upload the raw, unedited photo? Or upload both raw as well as NVDI to display what Public Lab is doing with diy NVDI?

What relation does Picture Post have to Sam Droge & monitorchange.org?

Small goals For the New York Botanical Garden, I want to get in touch with Jessica Schuler with NYBG, the person in charge of the Thain Family Forest.

If I am not able to do this while in New York, I can follow up in Boston, New Hampshire & Maine as those areas all have a large number of Picture Posts installed.

Attach a picture post to a signpost on a city street across from an urban garden.

Big Goals What funding is left for Picture Post & who will support it next? I read NASA funded a 3 year continuation around 2010 to explore adding more software/apps/plugins to measure plant health from IEEE Earthzine as well as updates contained in a formal Program Evaluation. http://babelniche.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/crowd-sourced-ecology-the-picture-post/