Monday, December 27, 2010

Pictometry

Every few years, local governmental agencies pool their resources to buy a new set of aerial orthophotos for Lincoln and Lancaster County.  These don’t come cheap, but by working together, we all get photos that none of us could afford individually.  You will be seeing the new photos in the public web mapping applications in coming weeks.

sowerThis year, Pictometry won the bid, and as part of the project we not only got the orthophotos, but oblique images as well.  Oblique images are shot at an angle.  You may have seen them in Bing Maps, where they are called “Bird’s Eye View.” Our images, however, are at a much finer resolution than the public stuff.  The image at the right is a good example: that’s the Sower atop the Nebraska State Capitol, with the Governor’s Mansion to the right. 

Take a look at this west-facing image of Memorial Stadium.  Note the reverse image in the lower left quadrant of the field: “WOODHOUSE”.  

woodhouse
Now find the plane pulling that banner.  If you’re wondering, this is the University of Nebraska spring game, a scrimmage on April 17, 2010 that drew a crowd of around 65,000.  Not bad for a practice. 

game day

The orthophotos and the oblique images are valuable to LPD in planning special events, dealing with critical incidents, and simply providing a visual of the scene of crimes and incidents we deal with on a daily basis.  These new images are astounding in their quality compared to what was available a few years ago, and it makes one wonder where the future will lead us.

12 comments:

Steve said...

If you look really close at the last picture, you can make out Bo poking his finger in the chest of Martinez!

Anonymous said...

Chief,
Have you ever considered using some of the small aerial platforms that are now available? New digital cameras with remote video are light enough to be mounted on some of these small helicopters. New blade designs have made these safe for even young children to fly. I would think there are some Hobby groups here in Lincoln that are really into this. If I could figure out a way of mounting one of my guns on an RC helicopter I would take up the hobby myself. Just kidding.

Gun Nut

Anonymous said...

big brother.....leave us alone, the ex-ceo of pictometry has a new company called Cerebral Assessment Systems "It can be used in motor vehicle bureaus before giving people licenses"

I was wondering if I outfitted my house with certain LED lights and it was blind to future photos and aerial survelliance would that pose a legal problem?

Anonymous said...

If you look closer at the "WOODHEAD" photo, in the lower-right corner, you'll notice one of the large columns, supporting the Northeast corner of Memorial Stadium, is skewed. I'm assuming this was the design intent of the Structural Engineer, so the base of the column would not be right in the middle of the track's starting lanes...

Anonymous said...

Yep, Big Brother is everywhere. About 1 1/2 years ago, while checking my mail, I noticed the Google map streetview car slowly driving up the street. I ducked into the house just in time to avoid becoming a "fuzzy face".

Anonymous said...

5:57

Is it really skewed like that, or is that a result of the angle in which the photo was taken?

Has me curious now, I'm tempted to go down and take a look myself.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize Google qualified as "Big Brother". I can guarantee you that more than our USA big brother is watching us from space.
Get used to it, it's not going away. No use getting all our panties in a bind. When they start being able to see in our houses, then I'll be outraged.

ARRRRG!!!! said...

I wanted to take the aerial photos but Pictometry got the bid.

Anonymous said...

It's skewed like that on the NW corner also. Part of the structure the way it was built. I always thought that was kind of odd myself.

Anonymous said...

Steve- Still way too funky!

Anonymous said...

who ever said big brother was going to be the government? they are saddled by the constitution, but corporations on the other hand are free to do as they please.....

Anonymous said...

I guess I have never heard of anyone else being "big Brother" but the government. Everytime somebody has used that phrase, it has always been in reference to the government.
On the other hand, big corporations now own the government and run the Country so, yea I guess you're right.