Client: Carbon Forest Services
Carbon Forest Services (CFS) provide consultancy services to landowners, companies, iwi, and government on all areas of forestry under the New Zealand Emissions Trading (ETS) Scheme. They also do carbon trading and thus have an in-depth understanding of the New Zealand carbon market
To support their clients with forest management and carbon audits in support of the ETS, they have commissioned Lynker Analytics over several years to capture high resolution aerial photography of managed forest areas.
To produce orthophotography at an affordable price we work with partners Action Aviation (aircraft and pilot) and UAV Mapping NZ (flight operations and imaging services), with data processing completed in house. Our aircraft, pilot and operations team are Rotorua based and they pride themselves on being responsive and highly adaptive to prevailing weather windows to acquire imagery.
While most aerial surveys fly for imagery alone, we deliver data for land analysis. As the output from an aerial survey is a prime input for a machine learned model, our data is of the highest quality and spatial accuracy available for informed environmental outcomes.
Our flight management includes a detailed flight path, taking into account the survey area and terrain. A typical survey uses a Cessna 172 aircraft flying at altitudes between 3,000 and 1,500 feet above ground level (AGL), depending on the required ground resolution.
Flight management is coordinated using the Aviatrix flight management system (FMS) and airborne camera control system. This factors in safety, air traffic control, the client’s priority, and the aircraft’s range with potential refueling locations. We also consider the logistics involved to deliver the data for processing.
Raw imagery is processed into our pipeline, based on SimActive’s Correlator3D™. This rapid survey-accurate large-area mapping is used by the United Kingdom’s Ordnance Survey, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Aerial triangulation and orthomosaic production using SimActive
Our experience of processing allows for competitive pricing and reliable results with high production quality. Our imagery also meets national standards for aesthetic and technical conditions, such as ensuring shadow depth and adjoining image edges are defined.
Our use of SimActive Correlator3D™, Python, and Esri tools on tasks for iwi and land managers means we are at the forefront of technical knowledge with software and processes. The example below illustrate the typical end results with seamline, photo points and flight path also shown.
Orthophoto result with seamline.
This type of imagery also enables detailed surface models to be generated which reveal excellent micro topography. Our Quality Assurance method takes the dense point cloud from the surface model to determine ground, vegetation and buildings with standardised LiDAR-like analysis for single return data.
Digital surface model generated using photogrammetry
“With their deep knowledge of imagery and flight operations, we trust the Lynker Analytics team will ensure that all photography captured and processed meets the needs of our end users and the regulator.” says Ollie Belton, Managing Director of Carbon Forest Services.
Deliverables:
1. Orthophoto mosaic
2. Digital surface model
3. Data Quality and Accuracy Report.