Page 33 - Module_4_en

Aerial photography Module

Aerial photography consists of images taken of the Earth’s surface from a camera on an airplane flying 4
at a relatively low altitude. Depending on their purpose, aerial photographs are taken in black and white,
colour, and/or infrared. For example, simple planning or navigation may only require black and white
photography, while vegetation studies require infrared in order to distinguish among landforms based

on infrared heat signals. Similar to remote sensing, aerial photography provides a unique overhead view
of an area, and can be used to acquire data on local areas without the observer being in direct contact.

Aerial photography has several benefits over satellite imagery; one is that it provides a much higher Abu Dhabi, UAE
resolution of an area, allowing you to get a very close-up and detailed picture of a fairly small feature on

the Earth’s surface. With the necessary corrections for distortion and processing, aerial photographs are
powerful tools for studying the earth’s environment. Typical applications of aerial photographs include
land-use surveys and habitat analysis. For example, they are often used by cartographers and planners
to take detailed measurements for the preparation of maps, and by trained interpreters to determine
land-use and environmental conditions and changes.

Some of the down sides to aerial photography over satellite imagery, however, are that they only
take a picture of a relatively small area, regular images taken of the same area are uncommon and
laborious, and acquiring aerial photography for an area is much more expensive than obtaining
satellite imagery.

Discussion Questions
Spatial data in environmental reporting

Option (1) Discussion

Working in small groups, discuss how you have personally used spatial data, as well as data
combinations including spatial data, in your profession, or how you have seen it used.

? For Example: You may have at some point used a satellite image of your country as a
base layer with an overlay showing regional boundaries. You may have then linked data,
such as a climate database, to the map to show average precipitation for each region
across the country.

Provide examples of any environmental monitoring or reporting you may have done, and
whether or not spatial data were used for this reporting.

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 31