tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/aerial-photography-24114/articlesAerial photography – The Conversation2020-09-07T04:43:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1438382020-09-07T04:43:29Z2020-09-07T04:43:29ZEyes on the world – drones change our point of view and our truths<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355263/original/file-20200828-14-7j4i94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C164%2C4546%2C5546&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1533563015957-ef0664da3261?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1600&q=80">Christopher Rusev/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Drones have changed how we see the world. Even more profoundly, drones have transformed how we witness the world: how we decide the events that matter and create our shared “truth” of what happened.</p>
<p>Remotely piloted and equipped with sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles are changing the way we witness war, climate change, political protest, and now the <a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemic-drones-useful-for-enforcing-social-distancing-or-for-creating-a-police-state-134667">COVID-19 pandemic</a>. In recent weeks, drone footage has broadcast the <a href="https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/aerial-footage-shows-aftermath-of-unrest-in-kenosha">unrest in the US city of Kenosha</a> following the shooting of Jacob Blake and the devastation of the <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/18/drone-footage-of-lebanon-explosion-aftermath">Beirut chemical explosion </a>and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/drone-footage-captures-devastation-in-dominican-republic-after-tropical-storm-laura">Tropical Storm Laura</a>. </p>
<p>Drone technology can blur viewpoints, pull focus onto surveillance and allow people to witness everything from public protests to places pushed out of reach by the pandemic.</p>
<h2>Drones do more than ‘see’</h2>
<p>It’s true that drones are vision machines: they loiter in the air with a persistent eye on the ground, beaming back imagery to their control point. For most drones, the images they send are optical. For military drones and those used in policing, border surveillance and even animal conservation, thermographic imaging is also common. </p>
<p>But drones are also data machines, accumulating information about altitude, speed, location and more. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/37529567/Drones_Eye_View_Affective_Witnessing_and_Technicities_of_Perception">My research</a> shows this combination of aerial vision, remote control and data creation is changing how we witness the world. Drone imagery dissolves distinctions between war and domesticity, human and machine. </p>
<p>Drones are <a href="https://dronerush.com/autonomous-drone-vs-self-flying-drones-10653/">increasingly autonomous</a>. Drone vision defines the contemporary aesthetic of war, but it is also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2014/dec/19/2015-drones-art-creative-examples">increasingly present</a> in new modes of art, activism, and popular and promotional culture. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The winning clip from last year’s Peugeot Drone Festival.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Images of conflict are now often seen through the eyes of Predator and Reaper drones, which can make witnessing war difficult if not impossible. Police drones can capture footage of protests and be used in the court room against activists. </p>
<p>Yet at the same time, drone vision can allow us to witness state violence that might otherwise have gone undetected and even reveal the invisible data systems that police airspace. </p>
<p>Drone footage of open cut mines, Great Barrier Reef bleaching and the newly intense devastation of bushfires, floods and droughts make the effects of the climate emergency inescapable. </p>
<p>As Black Lives Matter protests continue across America and the world, drones bear witness to clashes between police and activists, democratising the aerial view that once belonged to police and media helicopters.</p>
<h2>A brief history of drones</h2>
<p>Before drones, the <a href="https://time.com/longform/aerial-photography-drones-history/">view from above</a> was limited to helicopters, satellites, air planes and, further back still, the hot air balloon. Drones have made the aerial view commonplace, found everywhere from news reports to geographic surveys to wedding photos. </p>
<p>Military drones might not exist today without a weapons designer who also happened to be an amateur glider enthusiast. Back in the 1980s, <a href="https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/the-man-who-invented-the-predator-3970502/?page=2">Israeli aeronautical engineer Abraham Karem</a> became obsessed with designing a remotely piloted aircraft, and he wanted to do it on his own terms. </p>
<p>Emigrating to California and launching his own company, Karem used his passion for his love of glider design to design a drone that could stay in the air for hours, using only a glorified lawn mower engine to stay aloft: the Predator.</p>
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<p>Initially designed as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance craft, the Predator struggled to gain traction at the Pentagon. But the growing revolution in military affairs and protracted violence in the Balkans gave the Predator a chance, and <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/bin-ladens-death-cia-drones-played-their-part">the hunt for Osama bin Laden</a> pushed it slowly to centre stage.</p>
<p>On the civilian side, drone development has focused more on <a href="https://www.auav.com.au/articles/drone-types/">quad-copter than fixed wing</a> designs, with the market dominated by the Chinese manufacturer DJI. </p>
<p>Just a few years ago, hobbyist drones were tricky to fly but <a href="https://www.droneguru.net/5-amazing-selfie-drones-for-2017-get-the-ultimate-dronie/">now there are selfie drones</a> that can be piloted by gesture, autonomously avoid obstacles, and track you as you move.</p>
<p>Now found everywhere from search and rescue to agriculture to policing, the social and political impact of drones is a serious issue. During the pandemic, the policing function of drones has spread alarmingly to social distancing enforcement and biometric surveillance.</p>
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<h2>Witnesssing the pandemic</h2>
<p>This year, drones have allowed people around the world to <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/pandemic-objects-drone">witness cities emptied of their usual crowds</a>. These images testify to the scale of the upheaval of everyday life. For those sheltering in place, these images can provide a sense of the communal nature of a profoundly isolating time.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Empty New York City streets as seen by drone, helicopter, car and foot.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In contrast to the continual updating of testing, infection and death statistics and the ubiquitous logarithmic charts showing curves flattening or rising, drones allow us to witness the uncanny, melancholic and strangely beautiful disruption to everyday life.</p>
<p>This kind of witnessing provides context for the dislocations and anxieties of life under lockdown, even if it can’t necessarily make the disruption easier to bear.</p>
<p>Last month, the skies over Seoul, South Korea were <a href="https://www.insider.com/photos-coronavirus-drone-messages-seoul-south-korea-2020-7#over-the-weekend-hundreds-of-drones-flew-over-the-han-river-in-seoul-south-korea-to-provide-encouraging-messages-and-display-health-guidelines-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic-1">lit up by around 300 drones</a> creating messages of public health safety and lockdown encouragement. Previously, <a href="https://petapixel.com/2020/03/27/drone-portraits-of-people-trying-to-stay-sane-and-have-fun-in-self-isolation/">Lithuanian photographer Adas Vasiliauskas</a> used his drone to facilitate human connections with friends and neighbours, who relished the chance to dress up and pose for family portraits. </p>
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<p>As our ability to encounter the world beyond our neighbourhoods recedes, drones could open up the world in unexpected ways. Before the coronavirus, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jun/17/why-drone-photography-offers-a-different-view-of-travel">travellers were already using drones</a> to capture stunning imagery – though it <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-05/australians-released-from-iran/11576776">landed one Australian couple in trouble</a> in Iran. </p>
<p>With millions stuck in lockdown and travel restrictions in place, drone footage <a href="https://travelwithdrone.com/">shared online</a> can help people experience distant places without leaving home. </p>
<p>While remote tourism of this kind could be abusive and intrusive, infrastructure is in place for a more ethical approach. For example, <a href="https://werobotics.org/">WeRobotics</a> and other groups have seeded drone expertise across Africa, Asian and South America, helping train local operators to undertake mapping and photography.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BgC9ktMMbYE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">So much running, so much freedom.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Witnessing the world through the eyes of drones can be powerful for both good and ill. It can reveal beauty and injustice, but it can also subject people to unwelcome surveillance. As drones become more and more embedded in how we see the world, deeper understandings of the ethics of aerial vision will be essential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Richardson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>They began as wartime technology, but now drones are changing the way we witness the world, especially when we can’t see it for ourselves.Michael Richardson, Senior Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/928522018-03-15T15:24:32Z2018-03-15T15:24:32ZHow we recreated a lost African city with laser technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209507/original/file-20180308-30986-1iluhpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C43%2C2241%2C1340&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">LiDAR, was used to "redraw" the remains of the city, along the lower western slopes of the Suikerbosrand hills near Johannesburg. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karim Sadr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are lost cities all over the world. Some, like the remains of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42916261">Mayan cities</a> hidden beneath a thick canopy of rainforest in Mesoamerica, are found with the help of laser lights.</p>
<p>Now the same technology which located those Mayan cities has been used to rediscover a southern African city that was occupied from the 15th century until about 200 years ago. This technology, called LiDAR, was used to “redraw” the remains of the city, along the lower western slopes of the Suikerbosrand hills near Johannesburg. </p>
<p>It is one of <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7337019/SETTLEMENTS_LANDSCAPES_AND_IDENTITIES_AMONG_THE_TSWANA_OF_THE_WESTERN_TRANSVAAL_AND_EASTERN_KALAHARI_BEFORE_1820">several large settlements</a> occupied by Tswana-speakers that dotted the northern parts of South Africa for generations before the first European travellers encountered them in the early years of the nineteenth century. In the 1820s all these Tswana city states collapsed in what became known as the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/political-changes-1750-1835">Difeqane civil wars</a>. Some had never been documented in writing and their oral histories had gone unrecorded. </p>
<p>Four or five decades ago, several ancient Tswana ruins in and around the Suikerbosrand hills, about 60 kilometres south of Johannesburg, had been excavated by archaeologists from the University of the Witwatersrand. But from ground level and on aerial photos the full extent of this settlement could not be appreciated because vegetation hides many of the ruins.</p>
<p>But LiDAR, which uses laser light, <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzb3V0aGVybmdhdXRlbmdzd3N8Z3g6NDA3NTU4ZGI2N2M4MmI2Yg">allowed my students and I</a> to create images of the landscape and virtually strip away the vegetation. This permits unimpeded aerial views of the ancient buildings and monuments. </p>
<p>We have given the city a generic placeholder name for now – SKBR. We hope an appropriate Tswana name can eventually be adopted.</p>
<h2>Bringing the city to life</h2>
<p>Judging by the dated architectural styles that were common at SKBR, it’s estimated that the builders of the stone walled structures occupied this area from the fifteenth century AD until the second half of the 1800s. </p>
<p>The evidence we gathered suggests that SKBR was certainly large enough to be called a city. The <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=ZEX-yZOAG9IC&pg=PA40&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false">ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur</a> was less than 2km in diameter while SKBR is nearly 10km long and about 2km wide.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209509/original/file-20180308-30989-jigewb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The ancient homesteads at Suikerbosrand are shown against an aerial photograph from 1961. The two rectangles show the footprint of the LiDAR imagery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karim Sadr</span></span>
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<p>It is difficult to estimate the size of its population. Between 750 and 850 homesteads have been counted at SKBR, but it’s hard to tell how many of these were inhabited at the same time, so we cannot easily estimate the city’s population at its peak. </p>
<p>Given what we know about more recent Tswana settlements, each homestead would have housed an extended family with, at the least, the (male) head of the homestead, one or more wives and their children.</p>
<p>Many features of the built environment at SKBR seem to signal the wealth and status of the homesteads or suburbs that they are associated with. For example, parallel pairs of rock alignments mark sections of passageways in several different parts of the city. </p>
<p>South African archaeologist Professor Revil Mason, who has carried out <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzb3V0aGVybmdhdXRlbmdzd3N8Z3g6NzJmNzUyNjE0ZDQwOWM5MA">a great deal of research</a> on stone walled ruins around Johannesburg, called these features cattle drives, built to funnel the beasts along certain routes through the city.</p>
<p>If these were cattle drives the width and location of these passageways would have signalled the livestock wealth of the ward or homestead that constructed them, even when the cattle were not present.</p>
<p>In the central sector of SKBR there are two very large stone walled enclosures, with a combined area of just under 10, 000 square meters. They may have been kraals and if so they could have held nearly a thousand head of cattle.</p>
<h2>Monuments to wealth</h2>
<p>Among the largest features of the built environment at SKBR are artificial mounds composed of masses of ash from cattle dung fires, mixed with bones of livestock and broken pottery vessels. All this material appears to have been deliberately piled up at the entrance to the larger homesteads. </p>
<p>These are the remains of feasts and the ash heaps’ size publicised the particular homestead’s generosity and wealth. The use of refuse dumps as <a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/uofc/others/sukur/Cult/HidiMidden/HMreport2013Main.pdf">landmarks of wealth and power</a> is known from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416504000352">other parts of the world</a>, like India, as well. Even the contemporary gold mine dumps of Johannesburg can be seen in this light.</p>
<p>Other monuments to wealth and power at SKBR include a large number of short and squat <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzb3V0aGVybmdhdXRlbmdzd3N8Z3g6MzU2N2VlN2NkNzVlZmM3Zg">stone towers</a> – on average 1.8 - 2.5 metres tall and about 5 metres wide at their base. The homesteads with the most stone towers tend to also have unusually large ash heaps at their entrance. The practical function of the towers isn’t known yet: they may have been the bases for grain bins, or they may mark burials of important people.</p>
<p>It will take another decade or two of field work to fully understand the birth, development and ultimate demise of this African city. This will be done through additional coverage with LiDAR, intensive ground surveys as well as excavations in selected localities. </p>
<p>Ideally, the descendants of those who built and inhabited this city should be involved in future research at this site. Some of my postgraduate students are already in contact with representatives of the Bakwena branch of the Tswana who claim parts of the landscape to the south of Johannesburg. We hope that they will actively become involved in our research project.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karim Sadr receives funding from the National Research Foundation and from the University of the Witwatersrand.</span></em></p>Technology which located Mayan cities has been used to rediscover a southern African city from the 15th century.Karim Sadr, Professor Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/572012016-04-07T04:53:24Z2016-04-07T04:53:24ZNew relaxed drone regulations will help the industry take off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117573/original/image-20160406-28945-uvilu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">CASA makes it easier for low risk flying of drones.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rthorek-photography/6798508919/">Flickr/Richard Thorek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian drone industry is set for a shake up following the announcement of a long-awaited relaxation of regulations on their operation. </p>
<p>Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (<a href="https://www.casa.gov.au/">CASA</a>) says the <a href="https://www.casa.gov.au/publications-and-resources/media-release/red-tape-cut-remotely-piloted-aircraft">amended regulations</a> will come into effect in late September 2016, and with them comes the introduction of new categories of what are known as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).</p>
<p>The regulations define new low-risk commercial RPAS operations, which will allow operators of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016L00400/Explanatory%20Statement/Text">sub-2kg craft</a> to fly without the need for an approval or licence. </p>
<p>A drone must be operated in daytime and within visual line of sight of the remote pilot to be classified as low risk. It must not be flown over populous areas and must be kept at least 30 metres from other people.</p>
<p>The drone cannot be flown greater than 130m above ground and it must not be flown within 5.5km of a controlled airport.</p>
<p>Commercial operators in this new category will have to register their operations with CASA on a yet-to-be live website.</p>
<p>Relaxed regulations will also apply to private owners of RPAS of up to 150kg. This is provided they only fly their drone over their private property and they do not operate their aircraft for direct commercial reward. </p>
<h2>Why the change?</h2>
<p>In 2002, CASA was the first in the world to <a href="https://www.casa.gov.au/standard-page/casr-part-101-unmanned-aircraft-and-rocket-operations">regulate the operation of drones</a>. </p>
<p>The regulations, contained in <a href="https://www.casa.gov.au/standard-page/casr-part-101-unmanned-aircraft-and-rocket-operations">Part 101</a> of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulation (CASR 1998), were long considered ground breaking. Much of the success of the Australian unmanned aircraft industry is owed to the flexible approach outlined in the regulations. </p>
<p>In 2007, there were fewer than 25 certified drone operators in Australia. By March 30, 2016, <a href="http://www.aviationbusiness.com.au/news/casa-issues-500th-uav-operator-certificate">this number had grown to 500</a>, with most operating small multi-rotor RPAS.</p>
<p>But with this rapid growth came the increasing need for regulatory reform. CASA recognised that the regulations needed to keep pace with increasingly capable technology, and the changing operational needs of the sector.</p>
<p>It also realised that processing an ever increasing number of regulatory applications was not sustainable.</p>
<h2>Welcome news</h2>
<p>The new changes <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-01/new-drone-regulations-to-benefit-farmers/7293392">will significantly reshape</a> the drone industry. </p>
<p>Operators already licensed by CASA are expected to face increased competition from the new sub-2kg RPAS operators. These new operators will be able to provide equivalent <a href="http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/05/so-you-want-to-shoot-aerial-photography-using-drones/">aerial photography and inspection services</a> without the same regulatory overhead.</p>
<p>Similarly, there will be an <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/10/08/drone-nation-air-droid/">increase in the number of end-users</a> choosing to own and operate their own internal RPAS capability instead of contracting existing RPAS service providers. Examples include the use of small <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/drones-building-construction-industry/36306/">inspection drones on building sites</a> and the use of drones by <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-police-recruit-drones-in-forensic-first-20150528-ghbi70.html">tactical police units</a> to assist them in hostage situations.</p>
<p>But it is not all doom and gloom for the current licensed RPAS operators. The standard operating conditions applicable to the new low-risk categories are restrictive.</p>
<p>Larger and more reliable drones will still be needed to carry bulky and more expensive payloads such as laser scanners, and hyper-spectral and cinema-quality cameras. These drones will still need to be operated by licensed operators.</p>
<p>Approval is still required for first person view (<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-fpv-drone-racing-54047">FPV</a>) outdoor flying operations, where the remote pilot flies by means of a camera mounted on board the drone. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-in-the-skies-how-outback-joe-was-found-and-rescued-34234">autonomous drones</a>, which operate without any input from a pilot, also require CASA approval on a case-by-case basis.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117308/original/image-20160404-27125-18ijsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A large drone that will still require licensed operators for commercial use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Hrabar/CSIRO/UAV Challenge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research and educational institutions, such as universities, are also expected to benefit from the new categories, provided they operate their aircraft over their own property and in accordance with all other operational restrictions. </p>
<p>Previously, these institutions were subject to the same licensing requirements as commercial operators. </p>
<h2>Hobby users</h2>
<p>The amended regulations do not address concerns posed by the rapidly growing number of hobby drone users.</p>
<p>Regulations applicable to hobby or recreational users are contained in CASR 1998 Part 101.G, which is the subject of a separate CASA regulatory reform project.</p>
<p>There is growing concern over the risks hobby users pose to other aircraft and to members of the public. Some of these hobby users are not aware of the potential danger their drone may pose. </p>
<p>There have been numerous <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/01/drone-near-miss-should-be-a-wake-up-call-for-review-says-shadow-minister">near misses of small drones with passenger aircraft</a> in recent years. As the rate of these incidents increases, there is real concern that a drone will eventually be ingested into an aircraft engine causing catastrophic damage – or worse, an airline crash.</p>
<p>Others are well aware of the dangers their drones may pose to the public but they <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/10-dumb-uses-of-drones-that-ruin-drones-for-everyone/">are deliberately mischievous anyway</a>.</p>
<p>Education remains the only effective tool, with CASA leading a campaign <a href="https://www.casa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net351/f/_assets/main/lib100071/flying_with_control_model.pdf">to educate hobby users on the safe operation</a> of their aircraft and the regulations that apply to them. </p>
<p>Without doubt, the release of the amended regulations will mark a significant milestone in the history of the Australian drone industry. They will help to sustain the safe and viable growth of the sector.</p>
<p>But the devil may still lie in the detail, of course, with the accompanying manual of standards yet to be released by CASA. The manual will contain more detailed requirements including those for remote pilot licences, flights in controlled airspace, and flights beyond visual line of sight of the pilot.</p>
<p>CASA’s exact interpretation of “Aerial Work” and “Commercial Reward” also remain unclear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Reece Clothier's primary area of research is the safety and regulation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for which he has previously received research funding from CASA. Dr Clothier is the President of the Australian Association for Unmanned Systems and former Industry Co-chair of the CASA Standards Consultative Committee, UAS Sub-Committee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Roberts is the co-founder of the UAV Challenge, an international competition that sees teams develop robot aircraft to demonstrate their use for saving people lost or in need of medical assistance. The UAV Challenge has been co-sponsored in the past by CASA. Jonathan is an academic and researcher with QUT's Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA).</span></em></p>Long awaited changes to the regulations on some drone flights in Australia are set to give the industry a shake up.Reece Clothier, Senior Lecturer, RMIT UniversityJonathan Roberts, Professor in Robotics, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/531922016-01-29T10:45:25Z2016-01-29T10:45:25ZIn sea of satellite images, experts’ eyes still needed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109389/original/image-20160127-26823-1141s1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=162%2C141%2C583%2C435&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lining up potential pitfalls: nonexperts and computers may misinterpret the vertical line in this image as a natural feature rather than a result of a mosaic compilation of multiple satellite images.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google Earth</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Islamic State group destroyed a sixth-century Christian monastery in Iraq in 2014, a fact confirmed last week by studying satellite images. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/20/isis-has-destroyed-iraqs-oldest-christian-monastery-satellite-images-confirm">cultural loss</a> is significant and is being widely lamented.</p>
<p>Remotely sensed images can be valuable information sources for the public, such as journalists and their readership. High-resolution imagery of places in the news have been used extensively to bring world events to the doorsteps of the public. </p>
<p>The monastery destruction points out a key aspect of modern satellite image interpretation: the enduring importance of experts, despite the rise of computer analysis and crowdsourcing. </p>
<p>In my own research concerning expert interpretation and as a trained image analyst, I have not only studied the transition from novice to expert but also lived it. A key component of training is moving from the superficial identification of objects to understanding the nuanced patterns that emerge from imagery.</p>
<p>How those images and patterns are interpreted – and by whom (or what) – has varied through history. A present trend toward <a href="http://frack.skytruth.org/frackfinder">the inclusion of nonexperts</a> in the process of interpreting satellite photography risks marginalizing the role of expert image analysts, like the person who confirmed the ruin of St. Elijah’s monastery in Mosul.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yuT3tOxcMI0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Fears confirmed by satellite: Iraqi monastery destroyed.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Early image interpretation</h2>
<p>Aerial photography dates back to the mid-1800s, when <a href="http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/baumanpr/geosat2/RS%20History%20I/RS-History-Part-1.htm">the first images of Paris and Boston</a> were captured from balloons. With the invention of the airplane and the onset of World War I, <a href="http://dronecenter.bard.edu/wwi-photography/">reconnaissance air photography was born</a>. </p>
<p>As the method gained popularity, the need grew for highly trained experts to generate intelligence. The ability to view Earth from high above was something foreign to most people until the release of the first air photo map by the United Kingdom’s <a href="https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/">Ordnance Survey</a> in 1919. Before then, lack of experience was seen as a huge barrier to nonexpert interpretation of overhead images. Initially, interpreters were mainly working to identify objects of military importance.</p>
<p>When <a href="http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-first-photo-from-space-13721411/?no-ist">the first images from space</a> came back in 1946, a new era began in civilian satellite image acquisition. At the beginning, computers were seen as potentially improving image interpretation. And indeed, today it is possible for computers to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/may/13/baidu-minwa-supercomputer-better-than-humans-recognising-images">outperform humans</a> at some tasks, such as sorting images into categories based on what they picture.</p>
<p>However, early attempts to model the human photo interpretation process fell short: computerized systems failed to replicate the flexibility of human creativity and inference from abstraction. Think about the last time you saw an animal in a cloud passing overhead. Humans are adept at seeing the meaningful <a href="http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/11/10/cercor.bhr315">patterns in the mundane</a>. </p>
<p>Experts’ ability to recall meaningful patterns for a given situation within their <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/135062800394748#.VqjAEiorJaQ">specialty area</a>, and to quickly choose which patterns are <a href="https://medium.com/@kevin_ashton/how-experts-think-91b443104b92#.c2qvph2jg">important</a>, give them an advantage over computers and nonexperts.</p>
<h2>The rise of computing</h2>
<p>Early knowledge-based systems led the way for modern computer-aided image analysis. <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/9-641j-introduction-to-neural-networks-spring-2005/">Neural networks</a>, for example, are computer systems that can learn from multiple data inputs how to analyze complex data. </p>
<p>The popularity of computational methods has begun to <a href="http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2005/04/21/why-reliance-on-technology-is-a-bad-thing/">remove the expert from visual interpretation</a> – with potentially serious implications. This could be detrimental in cases where creativity and mental flexibility are important. </p>
<p>Examples of computer automation failing come from a number of domains including <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-great-forgetting/309516/">aviation</a> and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-18/even-the-smartest-ai-can-mistake-zuckerberg-for-a-cardigan">image recognition</a>. </p>
<p>Recent advances in computer vision now make it possible for computers to “learn” from their past mistakes and <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/ssundaram/research/self-regulatory-machine-lea/">improve their performance over time</a>.</p>
<p>In 1994, French cultural theorist Paul Virilio predicted a futuristic <a href="http://cmuems.com/excap/readings/virilio-the-vision-machine.pdf">vision machine</a>, a system where machines both capture and perceive imagery. Could his vision be coming true?</p>
<h2>When nonexperts get involved</h2>
<p>Another major recent change in the field of image interpretation is the rise of crowdsourcing, which is rooted in the idea of collective intelligence. <a href="https://edge.org/conversation/thomas_w__malone-collective-intelligence">Collective intelligence</a> arises when individuals act as a group to perform intelligent tasks – in the aggregate, the group is better at some tasks than any of the individuals would be. </p>
<p>Existing crowdsourcing campaigns have suffered from several <a href="http://ica2012.ica.org/files/pdf/Full%20papers%20upload/ica12Final00271.pdf">pitfalls</a> of using nonexperts, returning results that are inaccurate, incomplete and in some cases completely incorrect. </p>
<p>Many of the errors arise due to misconceptions about the skill level of nonexperts, such as the ability of an untrained person to accurately measure or estimate distance, or even to interpret task instructions. </p>
<p>Other errors can be as simple as mistaken identity, as when an experienced Wikimapia user mislabeled one golf course as another from nearby. Despite the potential corrective power of the crowd, the error remained in a publicly editable online map <a href="http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/%7Egood/papers/526.pdf">for two years</a>. </p>
<p>To best capitalize on the advantages and capabilities of both computer-aided and crowdsourced image analysis, we will still need a highly skilled expert community with experience and training in photo interpretation.</p>
<p>These experts can do their own significant work, such as identifying extremist wreckage of historic sites. They can also help better understand the types of errors that arise in computer and crowdsourcing efforts, developing new methods to improve those techniques.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raechel A. Bianchetti receives funding from National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Expert image analysts have an important role to play, even in an age of computer interpretation and crowdsourcing.Raechel A. Bianchetti, Assistant Professor of Geography, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/534932016-01-27T00:22:10Z2016-01-27T00:22:10ZThe planner’s new best friend: we can now track land-use changes on a scale of centimetres<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108918/original/image-20160121-9728-9hxd1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The urban landscape is complex and ever-changing in cities such as Perth, but digital aerial photography can now monitor even the smallest changes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perth_Water,_Western_Australia.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities and mine sites are complex spaces, which frequently change at a fine scale. This makes them hard to monitor. It is now possible, though, to adapt digital aerial photography to monitor changes as small as 10-20cm in both land use and vegetation in three dimensions.</p>
<p>Interested? Wondering whether that’s feasible? Here’s how you can do it cost-effectively.</p>
<p>Monitoring changes in land cover including vegetation has been routine since digital satellite imagery became available in the 1970s and 1980s. However, satellite images have traditionally been too coarse to monitor complex environments such as cities and mine sites, so aerial data is often acquired. In addition to needing sub-metre resolution, city buildings, mine pits and spoil dumps present challenges for automatically tracking change.</p>
<p>Analogue (film) imagery has been used for aerial monitoring long after digital photographers replaced film in hand-held cameras. This is partly because changing large programs with multiple users is risky.</p>
<p>About ten years ago the authors started working with Landgate, the Western Australian government agency responsible for photographing Greater Perth. Our aim was to see if the advantages of satellite monitoring could be incorporated into Landgate’s annual aerial photograph capture to detect changes in land use and vegetation condition at the sub-metre level. </p>
<h2>How is it done?</h2>
<p>As well as recording red, green and blue bands of light, a near infra-red band was included because vegetation health is best measured at this wavelength. The elevation of the ground, buildings and trees is estimated each time, with a similar resolution as the pixel size making the imagery three-dimensional. Being digital, it is easy to count pixels to quantify changes.</p>
<p>Digital data allows changes over time to be measured with much greater accuracy and efficiency than when comparing film images. </p>
<p>It requires, though, that the images be captured using a standard approach. Standardised images ensure that a change in digital reflectance represents a real change and not a change in the atmosphere, sun angle, camera type or a shadow. Each image also needs to be very accurately aligned.</p>
<p>Reflectance targets were placed on the ground to ensure images were standardised during the acquisition as well as between years. </p>
<p>After trials in 2006 and 2007, summer images were chosen. This was because these met most of the requirements of the consortium of 13 government agencies and non-government organisations that guided the transition from analogue to digital.</p>
<p>Summer is a time when un-irrigated plants are most stressed. This enables monitoring of soil water deficits, groundwater-dependent vegetation and an assessment of irrigation efficiency at the individual-sprinkler scale. There is also less cloud and the impact of recent rainfall is less evident, given that the capture can take several weeks. To limit shadows, capture times were restricted to two hours each side of solar noon.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108818/original/image-20160121-9728-cvxp2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1338&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The area of Greater Perth covered by the digital aerial photography each summer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The area covered by the digital aerial photography each summer (see figure at right) extends beyond that needed to update street directories. It includes groundwater catchments, pine plantations and peri-urban horticulture. This coverage also enabled us to monitor disease impacts on native trees of interest to the consortium.</p>
<p>Technical details can be found in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/rNsUJ4vf7MiaDDbKaSIb/full">an article</a> in the International Journal of Digital Earth and on the <a href="http://urbanmonitor-beta.landgate.wa.gov.au/project.php">Urban Monitor website</a>. The website includes a <a href="http://urbanmonitor-beta.landgate.wa.gov.au/home.php">beta test site</a> of vegetation products maintained by Landgate.</p>
<h2>Many uses, and counting…</h2>
<p>The method has been applied to:</p>
<p>1) Monitoring <a href="http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/publications/7216.asp">tree canopy cover</a> in the Greater Perth region for state and local government planners to assess habitat loss and an increase in the urban heat island.</p>
<p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/bjTQfzkXrzJ0rMNIvO77ZpcdimxcIb_MQeyfOGzVnJEpAp8UXQIyBIIcuW-K5y_97F-iU0YE9v_IB2Xc-uYre9h1sfuhS-rYp2UdyKejvMGszqaH4y9HtyP_GrXcqzBoLc7W73pPq8bXELLA" alt=""></p>
<p>2) Identifying tall trees (even those in low-elevation areas) of importance to roosting birds such as the endangered Carnaby Cockatoos for the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/resource/urban-monitor-enabling-effective-monitoring-and-management-urban-and-coastal-environments">Perth Peel Regional Sustainability Plan</a>. In the image below, tree heights are shown in increasingly “hot” colours, displayed with a sun-shaded elevation model in grey for unvegetated areas. A digital <a href="http://online.wr.usgs.gov/ngpo/doq/doq_basics.html">orthophotograph</a> of the area is shown on the left.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=669&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108830/original/image-20160121-9746-1tx05wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tree heights are shown in increasingly ‘hot’ colours in a sun-shaded elevation model (right) of the area in the digital orthophotograph on the left.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108912/original/image-20160121-9725-zngwfw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This image shows vegetation losses in red, growth in green and no change in yellow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>3) Tree and bush decline in native vegetation in urban areas. The image at right shows vegetation losses in red, growth in green and no change in yellow. Non-vegetated areas are uncoloured.</p>
<p>4) Estimating the effect of urbanisation on urban water balances, especially runoff and recharge. Being three-dimensional, the images can identify where water will flow in new urban catchments.</p>
<p>5) The identification of blocks of land that have been built upon for urban infill planning (shown as red blocks in the image below).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108913/original/image-20160121-9769-1wfyfg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blocks of land that been built on (marked in red) can easily be identified to monitor urban infill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>6) Drying of groundwater-fed wetlands in the Perth Peel region.</p>
<p>7) The impact of mine or coal seam gas developments on vegetation and runoff. The example below shows predicted flow paths and accumulations of water in a rural landscape after development of coal seam gas sites.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108914/original/image-20160121-9763-1cfenec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Predicted flow paths and accumulations of water following development of coal seam gas sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The scale of the imagery is especially suited to local government and mining companies reporting to regulators, as it can help separate mine impacts from climate, fire, grazing or other disturbances.</p>
<p>Readers will probably identify further uses for the method – something that we have experienced whenever we give talks on its application.</p>
<p>In the Greater Perth region, digital acquisition using monitoring standards has replaced analogue capture, so it is routine with limited additional costs for acquisition. Not all datasets have been fully processed but they are archived for later reference as funds and needs arise. The data are expected to become increasingly valuable over time because they cannot be acquired retrospectively.</p>
<p>In time it is anticipated that Urban Monitor products similar to <a href="http://www.landmonitor.wa.gov.au/">Land Monitor</a> will be made available on the Landgate website. Land Monitor has used interpreted satellite imagery to provide change products to West Australian natural resource management agencies for more than 15 years for an annual cost of about $80,000. </p>
<p>This shows that good monitoring need not be expensive if thoughtful acquisition methods are used and products are developed to meet multiple user needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53493/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don McFarlane is a research scientist with the CSIRO; he receives funding from the Australian government. The research referred to in this article was funded by the Australian government and carried out in collaboration with several West Australian government departments including Landgate, which is responsible for the collection of spatial data in WA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Caccetta is a research scientist with the CSIRO; he receives funding from the Australian government. The research referred to in this article was funded by the Australian government and carried out in collaboration with several West Australian government departments including Landgate, which is responsible for the collection of spatial data in WA. </span></em></p>Constant, complex changes in cities and mine sites are hard to monitor. Drawing on digital aerial photography, it’s now possible to track land-use and vegetation changes in areas as small as 10-20cm.Don McFarlane, Research Scientist; Groundwater Hydrology Team Leader, CSIROPeter Caccetta, Research Scientist, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.