Stijn!!

[GH85Carrera]

Morning all.

The program we use is pretty cool for making the final orthophoto. I am working on another area that is 480 images. The program is used the GPS and IMU from the camera pod to determine the X, Y, & X and if we have ground control it uses that data as well. It builds a surface map of the ground. Sort of like a giant rubber mold of every shape. So every hill, drainage ditch, building, car, utility pole all gets a 3D model at 1 to 1 scale, then it drapes the composite image over that shape to make every building stand straight up, and correct for the variations in the elevation.

It does a pretty good job on the first try. But we always have to use a human to tweak the inevitable errors. It all depends on what the customer ordered, and that of course can vary price we charge for a project. Everyone always wants ultra high resolution, and ultra high precision. Just like race cars, how fast do you want to spend. We love the big high precision jobs, but so many clients confuse high resolution with high accuracy. They are not the same.

If all they need is a pretty picture of an area accuracy is irrelevant. A print of a square mile at a resolution of 1"=200' would be a 30x30 inch print. With the best ruler you can't measure an object that is just 20 feet across with any real precision on a flat print, and no one needs to. We have the digital image for that.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Where can we order one?

We also want a really really big flash for our airplane. That way we could fly at night. Just crank up the lightning bolt generator and sync it to the camera shutter. No one will be able to see our tail number at night so they can't report us.

That you can probably get from Air Force Surplus. The flash canisters for night time reconnaissance. Not sure if shutter speed matters much since it is a quick, bright flash.

[GH85Carrera]

One of the cool projects we flew was outside our normal stuff. A client that has hired us to fly his $200K infrared camera around. He was hired by NASA. They wanted to see the roofs of Cape Canaveral to see the heat loss, and a lot of other information that can be gleaned from infrared.

Anyway, we had two seasoned well trained pilots in the aircraft, flying over NASA ant night. It was DARK, and like flying blind. The camera was showing everything on the ground, but it has a soda straw view, just a small area on the ground, so it takes a lot of back and forth to cover the ground. Both pilots knew if they got disoriented, it would be real easy to fly out over the Atlantic ocean and pull a JFK Jr. They were really happy to get done.

So even if we had a huge flash, night flying sucks in remote areas. It is not so bad over highways or cities.

I can't image the training and then the confidence my dad had to have to fly at night over the giant Pacific ocean from Hawaii to Pago Pago or Japan.

[flipper35]

The flash also kills your night vision for flying.

[RKDinOKC]

I would have the same results day or night, Most likely ending up with a torn up airplane.

I am one of the few people that when it looked like an impending crash, jumped from the back of the FAA simulator.

[RKDinOKC]

Went to eye soeciallist today and got good news. Retinopathy is stopped only have to go every 8 months to have it checked. Told me to get new glasses. Eyes are better now than before I started having the reinopathy problems.

Getting a shot in the eye every month for 2 years seems to have helped even though at one point my vision was 20/200 (blind).

Vision has been 20/30 since HS. When it got a little worse eye doc said i had retinopathy. Where the blood vessels in the back of your eyes swell and start bleeding. Got shot once a month the help toughen up the blood vessles and laser treatments to stop the bleading. Got over 3000 places lasered on my retina. Doc says it;s like spot welding, I should never have to worry about retina separation. It also causes caddilacs and have both eye done. Now my vision is from 20/20 to 20/25.

To check my eyes they put in these dilation drops. Takes until the next day before they wear off and I can focus again.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by flipper35

The flash also kills your night vision for flying.

So, that’s bad, huh?

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by flipper35

The flash also kills your night vision for flying.

Well in theory, the pilot could just fly "under the hood" and only look at the instruments, and we cover the windows. Our pilots are good, but since we fly aerial photography on clear weather days to make cloud free images, they don't get a lot of practice flying in IFR conditions.

Both are IFR rated, as is our airplane, but both will tell you they are rusty and would not feel comfortable at all flying in full IFR conditions.

For the best aerial photos, we want a clear blue sky, and low winds like all pilots.

[Porsche-poor]

Morning all. Lots of rain. Fall has arrived I think and its early.

[GH85Carrera]

Still summer here. Rain is coming late Saturday and through Monday. At least we will get the big car show over with on Saturday. We are rolling our car show into one that has a long history up in Guthrie. It should be interesting.

OK, I want a new rule or law in architecture. Overhead walkways between building are to be outlawed, and only underground walkways are allowed. Cost be dammed, it ain't my building

I am working on an area with a lot of buildings, and most are interconnected, with an overhead walkway. The computer makes the neat 3D model, but the model gets a bit wonky when the elevated walkway is between two fairly tall buildings. The number of images that have the coverage is limited from the angles, and mostly overhead shots are all that see the areas between the building. The walkways get draped over wonky 3D models so they look wrong. It is a pain to go in an manually fix things.

Come to think of it, no more tall buildings, just one story and underground basements would really make my job easier.

Now I just need to convince the rest of the world that is a good idea. Hmmmmm.

[Porsche-poor]

fly over and then under the walkway.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Porsche-poor

fly over and then under the walkway.

I don't think the FAA would approve of us flying a Cessna 182T under the walkways, while flying inverted. I don't think the pilot wants to try, and as a part owner in the airplane, I know I don't want him to.

Our airplane is not rated to do inverted flight anyway. Since the cameras point down, that will just not work. Some of the walkways are just three or four stories up, and just the width of a city street apart.

[Porsche-poor]

boy you are just no fun. Smart but no fun.

[GH85Carrera]

Another problem is the camera is focused on "infinity" so we need to be 1,000 feet up or so to get a good sharp image. And if we were that close to something, even if we could focus, it would be a blur as we go by at 120 MPH anyway.

[Porsche-poor]

all minor details. Work the problem!!! LOL

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

So, that’s bad, huh?

I guess it all depends on if you want to see what you hit or have it be a surprise!

[RKDinOKC]

Did that kind of flying in the lear jet with flightsimulator program back in the day,
Knife edge between buildings, inverted under bridges, etc.

[GH85Carrera]

One of the aerial photo missions I was on was with yet a different pilot. He is a certified pilot instructor, and even teaches instrument flying. We were in a rented 172 and the area we flew solid clouds at 5,000 feet so we flew it at 4,500 and got is done. It was a client that did not care if the picture was pretty or not.

Anyway on the way back the ceilings kept dropping and so did we. We could see rain storms in other areas, and we flew quite a bit out of the way to get back to our airport. The ADSB is nice in that it tells us of other aircraft, and ground based obstacles like antennas. It was a bit intense and if it had deteriorated any more we would have to file a flight plan and come in IFR. We skated in with no issues and the client was thrilled to get his project finished.

Aw never got close to buildings or structures. But just flying past an antenna that we were 100 feet above and 500 feet or more away from is nothing like a simulator.

[Porsche-poor]

Morning all. Glen just be safe and make sure the wheels touch first.

[porsche4life]

Just don’t try to take off in a heavy crosswind!

https://youtu.be/pJmtTNqXB64