Aimee, mid-flight.
Scotland's 1st Neighbourhood Friendly Drone
Back in November 2014, Aimee was granted the first CAA approval here in Scotland for surveying in both urban and rural areas. Now with the winds calming and the sun shining high in the sky, Aimee is preparing for the summer months ahead to begin 3D mapping Scotland's cities.
Unlike the popular (but heavy) multi-rotor / quad-copter counterparts that make the news, Aimee weighs just 700 grams and no, doesn't make music or sports videos. Instead, Aimee uses a process dating back to World War I (known as stereo photogrammetry) to reconstruct the world below in stunning 3D.
Heralding A New Era For Earth Observation
Last week's final test survey in Glasgow's west end underlined the unprecedented accuracy that can be achieved. Flying at 400ft above ground level, Aimee is able to capture the world below at less than 4cm resolution! A figure that is simply unheard of by those flying manned aircraft or controlling satellites. In just a few short flights, Aimee was able to map out parts of the Kelvinside and Hillhead areas and produce some stunning imagery and 3D models.
In order to make the most of this data, GeoGeo has already begun developing new open source tools to make it easier to re-create 3D worlds from the surveying outputs. Below is a stunning example of Steven's visualisation work on Aimee's latest test flight, using the latest open source mapping tools (click image to learn more).
Kelvinside and Hillhead as you've never seen it before! Visualisation by Steven Kay (using SAGA and QGIS)
The Future of Surveying.
Aimee has already caused excitement amongst game designers, emergency responders, as well as the engineering and town planning community; as we prepare to offer the first high resolution 3D imagery service in Scotland. In true GeoGeo style, we will also be looking to support community groups by offering these datasets at a lower resolution, heralding a new (3D) chapter for open data as well!