Picnic Shelter Project

1. Why I went out

I went out to do some opportunistic data capture. It had been a while since I’d flown and a larger planned mission did not eventuate, so I wanted to do something however small. The picnic field is close by and from memory I thought it would be a good little project involving a structure and some surrounding natural landscape.

2. The plan

The plan was minimal. This proved to be both a good thing and something that needs work. Good in that it got me out there without too much delay and allowed me to capture some good data, some good areas and to begin some useful projects. It needs improvement in order to make these projects more professional, more like a professional project from beginning to end.

3. What actually happened

Flying the mission was quite comfortable. There were no major obstacles and no member of the public was present in the area. I flew a good grid pattern for nadir shots. I believed I flew a good oblique pattern. I did not consider the underside of the picnic shelter as I was not considering 3D model, at least not with any deep understanding of what was needed.

The data capture was relatively quick. I got some very good shots as well as some cinematic video.

4. What came out of it

From this mission I was able to produce an acceptable orthomosaic. During processing there were issues that arose, duplication and warping especially on one side of the roof. Ultimately I had to remove the obliques in order to produce an acceptable ortho.

Creating the 3D model was an interesting process. The output was limited due to the limited shots of the underside of the structure as well as the limited amount and angle of the obliques.

5. What I learned

The main lesson learned was the need for a more structured approach to oblique data capture as well as being more aware of all aspects of the structure if a 3D model is desired. A progressively wider oblique circle is needed to capture enough overlap of a structure to make processing more accurate. Essentially I need to start a circle around the object at a short distance, take many photos, and then progressively widen that circle. It’s important to take my time with this and to not hold back on the amount of photos I take.

6. What I’d change next time

Next time I want to have an appropriate form ready for this kind of relatively spontaneous data capture. I want a more professional approach and having the means and the prompts to record conditions and set the project up properly is essential.

I would use my Canon camera to take shots of the underside of the structure. I do not need to limit myself to drone only data capture and in the case of a structure like this there are aspects to it where drone photography is not ideal.

7. Operational / data quality checks missed

With the absence of an organise planning stage for this mission the JSA and other record keeping, information gathering steps were missed. While there were no safety concerns, what I lost was the kind of professional set up and the confidence that comes with it.
I did not check the data I had on site before moving on. While the nadir and obliques were very high quality that was not guaranteed. And checking may have led to me noticing a lack of shelter underside detail and resulted in a more comprehensive capture.

8. Where this goes next

Next steps will be developing and using a draft form for reconnaissance and opportunistic projects. Use of terrestrial data capture in a similar project will be a good training experience. And perhaps most important of all is the improvement in how I go about capturing data whatever the type of project.

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