Low-Cost Large Scale Aerial Photography and the Upland South Folk Cemetery
M.S. in Geographic Information Science
Department of Geology and Geography
April 2006
Aerial Photography, normally acquired via platforms like airplanes and helicopters, is very expensive, requires significant lead-time, and lacks spatial resolution for small features. Large-scale imagery can be acquired using helium-balloon or kite platforms with consumer electronics at a significantly lower cost, at a higher spatial resolution and with more flexible temporal resolution. Increased spatial resolution allows for identification of small surface features such as cemetery headstones, power lines, and manhole covers. The spatial accuracy of images acquired through the low-cost large-scale method was assessed through identification of small spatial features common to the Upland South Cemetery. Unfortunately, the spatial accuracy of the features extracted from the imagery was relatively poor. However, the increased spatial resolutions and more flexible temporal resolutions were very useful in documenting spatial and cultural aspects of the Upland South Cemetery.