AIRBORNE: Hybrid Solutions For GIS
New digital image capture technologies are beginning to find a niche role in low flying,
rapid turnaround applications
By Charles Mondello

The information revolution has arrived, and there is great potential for digital technologies to significantly impact the way aerial images are captured, stored, and distributed. As new technologies are introduced they are assuming a complementary role alongside more traditional technologies, working to add functionality to geographic information systems (GIS) solutions. Where film products provide the strongest cost and quality performance in mainstream image capture, new digital imaging technologies are delivering new capabilities across the board. New digital image capture technologies are beginning to find a niche role in low flying, rapid turnaround applications. Digital storage, specifically high-density CD Writable, is providing new and increasingly efficient vehicles for delivering images to clients. Digital indexing is making those images accessible in real time across the enterprise.
      However, while these developments are interesting, true innovation occurs when technologies answer market challenges. Providers like Western Air Maps, an international mapping company focused in aerial photography, surveying, and photogrammetric mapping are breaking new ground in harnessing these analog/digital hybrid images to deliver better solutions to their customers. Founded in 1960, Western Air Maps maps more than 1,000,000 acres per year.
      "The dynamic nature of the industry is nowhere more visible than in the introduction of new technologies," said Scott Perkins, vice president of business development. "We are always looking to find technologies that will allow us to continue to offer the very highest standards of service to our clients. We continually assess and re-assess our relationships and our selection of products."
      Clarity and sharpness are the most important criteria in aerial photography. Flying is expensive. And since clients are trying to obtain time-specific data, it may not be possible to go up again to try and rephotograph required images. Consequently, it is critical that Western Air Maps ensure optimal image quality from its aerial film, each flight, every flight.
      Recognizing the advantage of CD Writable storage, Western Air Maps identified a need to "master or publish" CD Writable in order to deliver digital files containing scanned aerial photography more quickly and cost-effectively to its customers.
      In its initial research, the company looked to multiple industries where CDs were being mass produced in a "clean environment" for a publishing model. However, unlike music or software companies that produce thousands or millions of copies of a single CD, Western Air Maps' requirements are geared to producing a very small quantity of CDs. Furthermore, it needed to be able to turn copies around quickly to meet client demands, which meant publishing CD Writable in house using off-the-shelf, PC-based hardware.
      In August of 1994, Western Air Maps sent a team of six people to Washington, D.C. to a workshop on softcopy photogrammetry and digital imaging. The CD writer selected met both the company's cost and duplication requirements. Today, in addition to sending prints to customers, the company has the capability to write CDs ¬ rapidly becoming the standard mode for delivering the image data.

Analog Capture to Digital Storage and Publishing
The business advantages derived from its hybrid system "analog-capture to digital-publishing" are underlined in recent work for several cities and municipalities. Mapping a 46-mile area over the city of Emporia, Kan., Western Air Maps used Kodak aerial film for image capture. On the ground, the analog images were scanned, and then a stereoplotter operator manipulated the file to rectify and correct the image. The company used the CD writer to publish the images and then delivered the aerial photography to Emporia on Kodak CD Writable. It also fulfilled a project to map wastewater and storm sewer infrastructure for the city of North Quincy, Ill., using the same methodology and technology.
      The digital mapping is accomplished using an analytical stereoplotter, Intergraph MicroStation PC, and the Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) process is accomplished with either Intergraph MicroStation PC or AutoCAD. The digital imaging (digital orthophotos) is produced on an Intergraph 6850 UNIX processor and Intergraph ImageStation. The PCs and UNIX machine are networked to the LAN utilizing Microsoft Windows for Workgroups software.

Testing Digital Capture
Western Air Maps continues to test products that will help provide the accuracy and quality its customers demand. The company recently tested the Kodak Digital Science professional DCS 420 color infrared camera. To become familiar with the system, the team took 30 shots from an observation tower at about 120 feet. This allowed personnel to learn how to connect the camera to a computer and download images. Next, they took 70 shots from their Cessna 401. The camera was then brought back into the office where it was connected to a SCSI port on one of the CAD stations based on the Pentium chip. The team was able to download and display images in minutes, dramatically shortening the production process.
      Some of the 70 images that were taken while testing the digital camera included images of the National Cemetery in Leavenworth, Kan. Working on an upcoming contract, Western Air Maps plans to use these capabilities to map all the grave markers in the cemetery. The digital camera will help to provide a much quicker turnaround by eliminating developing and scanning to facilitate instant image delivery. This "instant-image" capability has strong applications in emergency services situations. Western Air Maps used the digital camera to take images of the flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. In the flooding examples, the digital camera cut the image capture-to-delivery cycle by 72 hours. The company also sees several applications for the digital camera in map-updating applications. With today's software, the images taken with the digital camera can be easily downloaded and dropped into existing mapping files.
      "We can clearly see the benefits of using a digital camera system as a complement to traditional film in the not so distant future," said Perkins. "While film provides the best possible results and resolution in the vast majority of light conditions, digital camera systems will allow us to operate outside this range. Further, digital offers a more rapid turnaround. We see an expanding role for CDs in storage and delivery to support images captured using both film and digital technologies."
      Expanding functionality in analog film image capture, as well as digital camera technologies, coupled with capacity and access speed enhancements in CD Writable technologies for storage, publishing, and distribution, are proving powerful tools for Western Air Maps and other industry providers. Those organizations that recognize the new capabilities being brought to market, and significantly those that map and harness the synergies in best-of-breed hybrid analog/digital solutions are defining new standards for productivity in aerial mapping applications. It is these organizations that will compete and win in an industry defined by quality of customer service.

About the Author:
Charles Mondello is manager, GIS applications at Eastman Kodak Co. He may be reached at 716-253-1855.

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