Low-altitude aerial imagery obtained with 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 (JPEG images)

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Low-altitude aerial imagery obtained with 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 (JPEG images)
Abstract:
This dataset contains images obtained from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flown in the Cape Cod National Seashore. The objective of the field work 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 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. In addition to the images, this dataset also contains locations of both in-situ and placed targets that may be used as ground control to constrain photogrammetric reconstructions.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    U.S. Geological Survey, 2016, Low-altitude aerial imagery obtained with 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 (JPEG images): data release DOI:10.5066/F7CN721H, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    To download the data, it's recommended that you go to the website and take advantage of the large file handler. The individual zip files will download, but at a much slower rate. The file sizes are large: flight_1_rgb_1.zip - 3.7 GB; flight_1_rgb_2.zip - 4.1 GB; flight_2_nir_1.zip - 6.7 GB; flight_2_rgb_1.zip - 7.8 GB.
    This is part of the following larger work.

    Sherwood, Christopher R., 2016, Low-altitude aerial imagery and related field observations associated with 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: data release DOI:10.5066/F7CN721H, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -69.9576
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -69.9392
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.8503
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.8204
  3. What does it look like?
    https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/579f8532e4b0589fa1cd54f7?name=IMG_1628_reduced.png (JPEG)
    Sample image from low-altitude aerial imagery and photogrammetric products obtained with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over Coast Guard Beach, Nauset Spit, Nauset Inlet, and Nauset Marsh, Cape Cod National Seashore, Eastham, Massachusetts, 1 march 2016. This is a resampled and reduced-size version of flight_2_rgb_1, image IMG_1628.png and shows a portion of Nauset Marsh.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 01-Mar-2016
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Altitude_System_Definition:
      Altitude_Datum_Name: Mean sea level
      Altitude_Resolution: 0.01
      Altitude_Distance_Units: meters
      Altitude_Encoding_Method:
      Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The attribute information associated with the JPEG images is in the image header information that is described in the process steps.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • U.S. Geological Survey
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Christopher R. Sherwood
    Research Oceanographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, Massachusetts

    508-548-8700 x2269 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    csherwood@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The objective of obtaining these images was to make photogrammetric products (point clouds, digital elevation maps, and orthophoto mosaics). The broader purpose was to evaluation the quality of the images and photogrammetric products and evaluate the cost and feasibility of mapping from UAS images.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    raw aerial images (source 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey, 2016, Low-altitude aerial imagery and related field observations associated with 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.

    Type_of_Source_Media: raster digital images
    Source_Contribution:
    The digital images are the raw data used to produce subsequent photogrammetric products.
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 01-Mar-2016 (process 1 of 3)
    No processing was peformed. These images were downloaded from the cameras on the day of the flight.
    Date: 20-Jul-2018 (process 2 of 3)
    USGS Thesaurus keywords added to the keyword section. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 07-Aug-2020 (process 3 of 3)
    Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    Horizontal positions recorded in the EXIF portion of the images were derived from a u-blox 7 GNSS module, which receives signals from GPS and GLONASS satellites, but is otherwise uncorrected. Horizontal locations are nominally accurate to approximately 3 meters, but may be off by as much as 10 meters. Data are in geographic coordinates in the GPS reference frame (WGS84). No quality assessment or quality control has been performed for these data.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Vertical positions recorded in the EXIF portion of the images were derived from a u-blox 7 GNSS module, which receives signals from GPS and GLONASS satellites, but is otherwise uncorrected. Vertical locations are less accurate than horizontal positions and may be off by 30 meters. Altitudes are in meters above sea level. No quality assessment or quality control has been performed for these data.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    All images obtained during flights are included. Several images did not include altitude data in the EXIF information. The images with missing altitude data are: f1_rgb1\IMG_9569.JPG; f2_rgb1\IMG_1090.JPG, IMG_1320.JPG, IMG_1393.JPG, IMG_1394.JPG, IMG_1472.JPG, IMG_2183.JPG; f2_nir1\IMG_0045.JPG, IMG_0119.JPG, IMG_0195.JPG, IMG_0311.JPG, IMG_0530.JPG, IMG_0754.JPG, IMG_8840.JPG, IMG_9783.JPG, IMG_9811.JPG, IMG_9813.JPG. The images are separated by folder: flight_1_rgb_1 (1251 images), flight_1_rgb_2 (1246 images), flight_2_nir_1 (2219 images), flight_2_rgb_1 (2218 images). Different folders can have images with the same name.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    All aerial images were acquired with one of the two 12-megapixel digital cameras (Canon Power Shot SX280 HS) mounted in the UAS. Two consecutive UAS missions were flown. The first flight (f1) was launched at approximately 1112 Eastern Standard Time (EST), and followed north-south flight lines, landing at about 1226 EST. Two 12-megapixel digital cameras (Canon Power Shot SX280 HS), designated rgb1 and rgb2 recorded images during this flight. The second flight (f2) was launched at 1320 EST and followed east-west flight lines, landing at 1450 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. This camera was designated nir1. Rgb1 and nir1 recorded images during this second flight. All images had a resolution of 4000 x 3000 pixels x 24 bits and were saved in JPEG format with compression level 6. The images included date, time, GPS location, and camera exposure information in the EXIF portion of the files. The dates and times are in Universal Time (UT). Images were contained in four directories, designated f1_rgb1, f1_rgb2, f2_rgb1, and f2_nir1. The directory naming convention denotes the flight number (f1 or f2) and camera number (rgb 1 or 2, or nir 1, where rgb indicates red-green-blue, and nir indicates near-infrared). Image names take the form of IMG_nnnn.JPG, where nnnn is an image number assigned by the camera. The camera automatically created a new directory and started renumbering images when the image number limit of 9999 was reached, so for a given flight, image numbers do not always start at 0001 and may not be sequential. In addition, the same image number (and image name) may occur in more than one flight.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints: none
Use_Constraints:
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator of the dataset.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? There are four zip files each containing a folder of images with a total of 6934 images: flight_1_rgb_1 (1251 images), flight_1_rgb_2 (1246 images), flight_2_nir_1 (2219 images), flight_2_rgb_1 (2218 images). Additionally, the FGDC CSDGM metadata accompanies the images in each zip file.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These files require software capable of opening JPEG images and, if desired, capable or reading the associated EXIF information.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 07-Aug-2020
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
Attn: Christopher R. Sherwood
Research Oceanographer
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

508-548-8700 x2269 (voice)
508-457-2310 (FAX)
csherwood@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/SB_data_release/DR_F7CN721H/CACO_UAS_Images.faq.html>
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