Aerial Imagery

[fleman202]

A little background, we do aerial imagery of fields in the midwest. Inflight we use shapefiles downloaded to Google earth on an iPad to give us a ground reference. We are flying at 5000 msl.

 

Anyone know of or use a different platform for a similar use? How can we pull a stronger GPS signal into the helicopter for guidance with shapefiles and a background map?

 

Anyone know of a good way to get WiFi at that altitude cheaply?

 

Please ask me to clarify if my question is unclear.

 

Thank you in advance!

[aussiecop]

Hi,

 

What connectivity are you using right now to get signal? just a 3G signal through the ipad? It really depends on your budget. There are plenty of companies out there that can help...but at a cost. What is the purpose of your mapping? is it for farmers or a GIS database or another reason? Why do you need to pull the live map versus uploading a database file that already has the information pre loaded so you are not reliant on a signal to get what you need? There are plenty of options out there that do not require you to pull the data live and all you would need a wifi/3G signal for is to place you on that map using the GPS capabilities.

[Five0]

What program are you using for your shape files?

 

We do a lot of predator eradication and are looking for a better program.

[fleman202]

As of now we are using the 4g signal through the iPad. We are taking color infrared pictures of fields to survey crop health and measure soil types. We overlay shape files of each of the fields we photograph onto google earth. We use the GPS function in order to better judge where we are at over the field, as we are flying at 5000 ft MSL. We need to be as efficient as possible. The only info we need to pull in live is our GPS track over a pre-loaded shape file. I hope this answers a few questions aussiecop!

 

Five0- we use an online program called flight plan online. flightplanonline.com. We use this for setting up fields for aerial application and it works well for us for mapping fields. Most of the fields are already highlighted and you just simply click on the field you want and you can download the shape file. Let me know if you have any questions about it.

[AngelFire_91]

Back when I was flying UAS's for the Sheriff's office we used a program called Falconview. The program we used was designed for the Military so it had targeting and threat information displays and stuff, but from what I understand they have a "civilian" version for download now that doesn't have that stuff on it. Sounds like it would be right up your ally for what you need.

 

You would have to load in your maps ahead of time but it would input a GPS signal for real time tracking. We would get what we needed DTED and map wise from government GIS sites, I'm trying to remember which ones right now and it escapes me, but it was all free access with varying resolutions.

 

Falconview can be found here: http://www.falconview.org/trac/FalconView

 

Example of features here: http://www.falconview.org/trac/FalconView/wiki/OpenSourceFeatures

 

Hope this helps some,

[apiaguy]

I use HeliGPS

www.heligps.com

it won't work on the Ipad because it is pc based software... but any laptop or tablet pc will work... usb gps antenna can get waas gps or glonass.

It is software designed for ag but it uses the same shapefiles as all the others.. The biggest positive is it is cheap.