Title:
Tables of file names, times, and locations of images collected during unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over Coast Guard Beach, Nauset Spit, Nauset Inlet, and Nauset Marsh, Cape Cod National Seashore, Eastham, Massachusetts on 1 March 2016 (text files)
Abstract:
These text files contain tables of the file names, times, and locations of images obtained from an unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flown in the Cape Cod National Seashore. The objective of the fieldwork was to evaluate the quality and cost of mapping from UAS images. Low-altitude (approximately 120 meters above ground level) digital images were obtained from cameras in a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flown from the lawn adjacent to the Coast Guard Beach parking lot on 1 March, 2016. The UAV was a Skywalker X8 flying wing operated by Raptor Maps, Inc., contractors to the U.S. Geological Survey. U.S. Geological Survey technicians deployed and mapped 28 targets that appear in some of the images for use as ground control points. All activities were conducted according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations and under a National Park Service Scientific Research and Collecting Permit, study number CACO-00285, permit number CACO-2016-SCI-003. Two consecutive UAS missions were flown, each with two cameras, autopilot computer, radios, and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning system as payload. The first flight (f1) was launched at approximately 1112 EST, and followed north-south flight lines, landing at about 1226 EST. Two Canon Powershot SX280 12-mexapixel digital cameras, designated rgb1 and rgb2 made images during this flight. The second flight (f2) was launched at 1320 EST and followed east-west flight lines, landing at 1450 Eastern Standard Time (EST). Prior to f2, rgb2 was replaced with a Canon SX280 modified with a Schott BG 3 filter to emphasize light at near-infrared wavelengths, designated nir1. Rgb1 and nir1 made images during this second flight. The four files are tables of images obtained from the two cameras during the two flights. These tables, which are text files of comma-separated values, contain the image file name, date and time (Universal Time; UT), longitude and latitude (WGS84 decimal degrees), easting and northing (NAD83(2011) UTM Zone 19 North meters, obtained by conversion of the latitude and longitude), and elevation (approximate meters above mean sea level) determined from the UAS GNSS system. Note that this location information was only used to determine proximity of images, and was replaced with calculated camera locations in photogrammetric processing.
