Public Lab Wiki documentation



Aerial Photography

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This is an open source community effort to develop simple, low-cost aerial photography methods for a range of conditions. All open hardware and software efforts are welcome here!

There are several sub-categories:

Balloon mapping Kite mapping Pole Mapping

Also:

You can join in by:


Activities

Purpose Category Status Author Time Difficulty Replications
Fifty Shades of Graze experiment - @cfastie - - 0 replications: Try it »
DIY Mini Kite Kit first flight field-test - @mathew 1h easy 1 replications: Try it »
Graze anatomy experiment - @cfastie - - 0 replications: Try it »
Use a rubber band and knotted string to trigger a camera build complete @mathew 15m easy 0 replications: Try it »
Host a balloon mapping workshop - - @liz - - 37 replications: Try it »
Floating camera rig build - @eustatic - - 0 replications: Try it »
Make a simple mylar/trash bag delta kite - - @warren 1h easy 0 replications: Try it »
Adding GPS logging to a kite or balloon aerial photography rig verify - @cfastie - medium 0 replications: Try it »
Youth Balloon Mapping Workshop Complete! - - @mjain26 - - 0 replications: Try it »
Coded ground control points - - @Jasja - - 0 replications: Try it »
Selecting Kite Flight Launch Sites in Centerville - - @Olivia - - 0 replications: Try it »
PET Bottle & Rubber Band Rig build - @mathew 3h easy 1 replications: Try it »
easy cut delta kite plans build - @mathew 3h easy 0 replications: Try it »
Analyzing Thacher Insulation: an Aerial Thermal Mapping Project - - @NIKIBOPOLOUS - - 0 replications: Try it »
How to decide on a tool for mapping - - @stevie - - 0 replications: Try it »
Fly a small camera on a very portable (squid-shaped) sled kite - - @warren - - 0 replications: Try it »
Easy Kites for Kite Trains build - @mathew - easy 0 replications: Try it »

Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.


Starter Kits

Public Lab’s Kits initiative offers starter kits for kite and balloon photography. The point of the kits is to provide a shared reference design for building experimental setups onto. You can also use our guides as a resource for building or purchasing materials of your own.

Public Lab Store's Aerial Photography and Mapping Kits


Questions

Ask a question about aerial photography

Title Author Updated Likes Comments
Balloon mapping workshop for a street festival in London @ClimateArt over 2 years ago 1
What is the easiest and cheapest way to make a kite big enough to carry a camera? @warren about 7 years ago 1
Where are people compiling lists of potential pollution sites following Hurricane Harvey? @warren about 7 years ago 3
What are some sources of new aerial imagery of Harvey damages? @warren about 7 years ago 6
How do I share lots (gigabytes, or thousands) of photos online, cheaply and easily? @warren about 7 years ago 1
How do you merge GPS logger data into photographs? @warren about 7 years ago 11
Cheap, lightweight GoPro alternatives for aerial mapping? @warren over 7 years ago 14
User Interface on Mac @mlapey over 7 years ago 2
please help! @ROCKETMAN over 7 years ago 1
how do i get my old map @jgee7 almost 8 years ago 0


Design philosophy

These tools are being developed to provide a low cost, easy to use, and safe methods for making maps and aerial images. Over the last few years, we’ve built a global community of mappers who are engaged in discussion around the development and use of this tool and others.

Normally aerial maps are made from satellites and airplanes. The balloon and kite ground-based approach introduces an on-demand capability where events or environmental conditions are mapped at a specific moment in time. Our community is particularly interested in applying this to civic and environmental issues.

Maps are often used by those in power to exert influence over territory, or control territorial narratives. "Grassroots mapping" attempts to invert this dynamic by using maps as a mode of communication and as evidence for an alternative, community-owned definition of a territory. To date, our tools have been used to contest official maps or rhetoric by enabling communities to map sites that are not included in official maps. In Lima Peru, members of an informal settlement developed maps of their community as evidence of their habitation, while on the Gulf Coast of the US, locally produced maps of oil are being used to document damage that is underreported by the state.