Aerial Photography and Survey Methods

Use aircraft to collect geographically referenced information. Applications of aerial mapping are common in the geosciences, conservation biology, and monitoring of hazards. Instrumentation on the aircraft typically measures electromagnetic radiation—either as light or another portion of the spectrum—or it measures properties of the fluids it moves through such as the temperature or chemistry of air and clouds. These measurements are linked to the aircraft’s longitude, latitude, altitude, and its motion relative to a reference point. Aircraft have several advantages over satellite platforms, such as the ability of operators to collect higher resolution data, change payloads, and image under clouds. Aircraft are also used to test new satellite sensors before they are launched into space.