Mapping with Balloons

A group of people gathered outside a brick building on a sunny day, holding large colorful balloons in pink, red, and teal during an outdoor campus eventThe balloons floating around the UMBC Campus the other day were associated with an introductory course (GES 286) in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems (GES). Students in the course were out flying the balloons with digital cameras attached in an attempt to learn how remote sensing assists with data collection.  The balloons were flown at an altitude of approximately 400 ft and the cameras were set to take pictures every 10 seconds in both the full color and the near Infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.  By combining specific parts of the images together students are able to determine whether vegetation is healthy or under stress.  This method of data collection and mapping  is being used around the country by a variety of people associated with Public Labs (http://publiclab.org/) (https://twitter.com/publiclab).

The original idea for this lab came from PhD candidate Jonathan Dandois, who works in Dr. Erle Ellis’ lab in the GES Department. The Ecosynth project, at the center of Jonathan’s dissertation, focuses on the use of small and light-weight, hobbyist-grade automated multi-rotor copters to collect aerial photos to study forest canopy structure.

A person releasing or holding a large red weather balloon on a grassy field, with several onlookers nearby and urban buildings visible in the background on a clear autumn dayThe Department of Geography and Environmental Systems offers GES 286 during the Summer Sessions (summer session 1 for the summer of 2014) and each Fall and Spring semester, it meets the university requirement for a lab science, and includes a number of other labs (pictures from some of those labs are below) that allow students to explore the environment around UMBC.  Students use state of the art GIS software in the department’s Geospatial Lab to help with analysis and display of the data they collect.  The course is open to all UMBC students.

 

 

 

Remote Sensing with Balloons
An aerial view of a narrow canal or waterway passing through an urban area, flanked by stone walls, pathways, trees, and surrounding buildingsThe same aerial view of a narrow canal and surrounding urban area rendered in false-color infrared imagery, displaying shades of purple and violet, used for remote sensing or land analysisA false-color satellite or remote sensing image of a land area displaying NDVI or similar vegetation index data, with colors ranging from bright green indicating healthy vegetation to orange and red indicating sparse or stressed vegetation or bare groundA small group of students gathered around computer monitors in a dimly lit lab or classroom, collaborating on work displayed on screen, with colorful posters or maps visible on the wall in the backgroundTwo people seated at a workstation reviewing colorful meteorological or satellite imagery displayed across dual monitors in a computer lab

 

 

 

 

 

Slope and Stream
Two researchers standing in a shallow stream in a wooded area, reviewing data on a clipboard or tablet while conducting fieldwork on an overcast day Two people standing beside a narrow stream in a bare-branched woodland, taking notes or recording data during an outdoor field survey on a cloudy day Three researchers conducting a stream survey in a wooded area, with one person standing and observing while two others crouch at the water's edge collecting samples, with red survey markers visible along the bank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tree Transects
Two people standing among tall trees in a green forest, one holding a clipboard, appearing to assess or record data on tree trunks during a woodland field survey Two people in a forest conducting a tree survey, with one person measuring or examining a tree trunk while the other records data on a notepad, surrounded by tall trees and fallen leaves Two people standing close to a tree trunk in a leafy green forest, examining or measuring it during an outdoor field study, with a leaf-covered forest floor visible around them