Guide to cost of aerial photography
A NEW ONLINE TOOL THAT WILL HELP foresters to calculate the cost of mapping their trees from the air is to be made freely available soon……..courtesy of a group of Australians.
Aerial photography has long been regarded as expensive, but highly useful for generating wide-scale information about the growth and health of a forest. But, until now, it has been difficult for people within forestry to get a grip on the costs of such an exercise without specialist aviation knowledge.
Thanks to a project coordinated and largely funded through Forest & Wood Products Australia, foresters will be able to work out the cost of various types of aerial photography to suit their own requirements.
Dr Jon Osborn, a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania, has been a leading member of the group tasked by FWPA to assess the latest developments in aerial photography and their uses in forestry. This resulted in the production of a Technology & Innovation guide on the deployment and integration of aerial photography for forestry use.
As part of that research, the team has also produced a report called Photogrammetry for Forestry Inventory that details the costs of utilising aerial platforms, from various light aircraft, down to UAVs, or drones, as well as types of cameras that can be used.
There are tables for the location of the forest, the area to be flown over, flight times and the number of people required, along with details of photographic equipment. Using this information, the online tool provides an approximate cost of the exercise.
The aerial photography costing tool will go live on the www.fwpa.com.au website over the next few weeks and there will be no charge.
NZL