Comments on: The View from Above

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:50:45 +0000

Steve, they need to be processed into standard tiles in order to work in Potlatch – it can’t do WMS directly. I just use the generate_tiles.py from the OSM SVN with geotiffs downloaded from http://warper.geothings.net

Robert, the longer lens the better – say 100mm+ would be great – to get flat images with the least distortion. So if you fly low, you’ll get really really good images but only of a very small area. Give it a try though and see how you get on!

By: Robert Sund

Robert Sund — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:31:45 +0000

I know someone who flies a size 90 RC helicopter with camera, sometimes for pay, but usually just for fun. It may lift 3,5 kg of payload in sustained flight but a SLR and its gear suffice for most tasks. I own a Legend HCX and usually take a photo of the GPS screen to ensure that timestamps is accurate.

What range in altitude is preferable for the aerial photography?
Is a GPS to localice the images useful?

If the altitude is within range I may ask if he is interested, and when he might donate some flying.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:42:38 +0000

Hey
I’m having trouble using my geothings warped images in potlatch. How do you do it? I can edit them in JOSM using the WMS plugin, but can’t find a similar option in potlatch.

Thanks
Steve

By: maning

maning — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:07:33 +0000

Again, I thank you Andy for helping us setup the imagery in Pangisanan, Philippines. What used to be a blank slate 1.5 months ago now looks better:

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?minlon=120.331&minlat=15.9464&maxlon=120.602&maxlat=16.2202&box=yes

More work is needed but we had excellent progress already.

Another thing I realized for implementing webmapping for disaster related event is there maybe disruptions in electricity and internet connection in the area. So it is good to have offsite webservers rather than hosting the service here.

By: Peter Miller

Peter Miller — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:15:08 +0000

Thanks for championing this imagery stuff Andy; I have felt for some time that this is a hugely important resource and one that we have until recently under-utilised. It great to see it being talked about. Do remember that the Gaza Strip map is now looking great based on photography flown after the Jan 2009 conflict and also an impressive ground survey. The West Midlands in the UK is now gearing up to buy aerial photography for the whole urban area and if other people are missing photography for their part of the world then do think about either buying satellite photography (not that expensive actually) or flying your own. There is a wiki page with further details and a place to put details of your appeal for funding.

By: Harry Wood

Harry Wood — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:01:50 +0000

I like the special 'tileurl=' parameter now supported by the edit page on the OpenStreetMap site, which launches Potlatch with custom background imagery tiles. Very handy for setting up easy editing instructions for example the wiki pages for Philippines humanitarian mapping and the new 'kosmosnimki' imagery recently been made available for Russia.