School Roof Panoramas for Police Planning

Aerial imagery for emergency response is critical; however, changes happen more often than the imagery is updated.  Recent renovations to some local schools required the Halton Regional Police Services to obtain updated aerial imagery, in order to ensure emergency and police tactical response plans for the schools were updated.  Using the Aeryon Scout, its AutoGrid^(tm) feature, and off the shelf software, they were able to collect a series of images and stitch them together to provide high resolution images.

Mission Description

The accuracy of the information available to police during a critical incident can directly impact the outcome.  If the incident occurs in a school, the response must come quickly and be carefully planned and executed.  Commercial satellite data is often years out of date, as is aerial imagery, since it's expensive and time-consuming to collect.  In the time between imagery collection and an incident, much can change.  New buildings or renovations, can make the information available of little use in an emergency.  To alleviate this disconnect, Halton regional police used the Aeryon Scout to collect a series of over-lapping geo-tagged images.  These images were then stitched together to provide an up-to-date detailed aerial image of the school.  This provides a level of detail not possible with satellite or high altitude imagery, and makes it possible to gather oblique images of the sides, entrances and exits of a building.

Use Details

The Scout provides an automatic photomap-building tool called AutoGrid^(tm), which allows the user to define a target coverage area, desired level of detail and required image overlap. The system automatically generates a flight plan and pictures are taken at the appropriate intervals to collect the photos required to stitch together to provide a larger picture of the area.  This tool removes the need to perform complex calculations and enter each point separately.

In operation, the system was taken from the trunk of the vehicle, set up with the target image region on the command station, and used to collect the images - all in less than 20 minutes.  Images taken for this activity were in JPEG format, although raw DNG format images are also possible.  The images were downloaded from the system then processed using an off-the-shelf stitching software package.  The results were highly detailed rooftop pictures of the schools, which will  allow police to plan an emergency response plans, should they be necessary.

Mission Complexities

• Cost effective up to date aerial information
• One single operator needed to control the UAV, control the camera and monitor the surrounding area for obstacles.
• Photographs required geo-tags for input to the off the shelf stitching software
• Built in functionality to remove operator error in data collection
• Urban location surrounded by obstacles such as hydro wires and buildings.

Mission Results

The results were aerial images of the school facilities, providing sufficient detail to allow first responders to respond intelligently to emergency situations.

Additional Benefits

In addition to the ability to provide aerial images, the Scout also provides the ability to generate 360 degree panorama of the area.  These images, along with the overhead pictures, provide additional information needed to support any emergency activities.