CSV file of names, times, and locations of images collected by an unmanned aerial system (UAS) flying over Black Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts on 18 March 2016

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
CSV file of names, times, and locations of images collected by an unmanned aerial system (UAS) flying over Black Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts on 18 March 2016
Abstract:
Imagery acquired with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and coupled with structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry can produce high-resolution topographic and visual reflectance datasets that rival or exceed lidar and orthoimagery. These new techniques are particularly useful for data collection of coastal systems, which requires high temporal and spatial resolution datasets. The U.S. Geological Survey worked in collaboration with members of the Marine Biological Laboratory and Woods Hole Analytics at Black Beach, in Falmouth, Massachusetts to explore scientific research demands on UAS technology for topographic and habitat mapping applications. This project explored the application of consumer-grade UAS platforms as a cost-effective alternative to lidar and aerial/satellite imagery to support coastal studies requiring high-resolution elevation or remote sensing data. A small UAS was used to capture low-altitude photographs and GPS devices were used to survey reference points. These data were processed in an SfM workflow to create an elevation point cloud, an orthomosaic image, and a digital elevation model.
Supplemental_Information:
For more information regarding field activity 2016-010-FA, see https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2016-010-FA.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Sturdivant, Emily J., Lentz, Erika E., Thieler, E. Robert, Remsen, David P., and Miner, Simon, 2017, CSV file of names, times, and locations of images collected by an unmanned aerial system (UAS) flying over Black Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts on 18 March 2016: data release DOI:10.5066/F7KW5F04, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    The first link is to the publication landing page. The second link is to the page containing the data.
    This is part of the following larger work.

    Sturdivant, Emily J., Thieler, E. Robert, Lentz, Erika E., Remsen, David P., and Miner, Simon, 2017, Topographic, imagery, and raw data associated with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over Black Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts on 18 March 2016: data release DOI:10.5066/F7KW5F04, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested citation: Sturdivant, E.J., Thieler, E.R., Lentz, E.E., Remsen, D.P., and Miner, Simon, 2017, Topographic, imagery, and raw data associated with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over Black Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts on 18 March 2016: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7KW5F04.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.64515436
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.63977431
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.58691575
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.58263575
  3. What does it look like?
    https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/59b00e03e4b020cdf7d4db3a/?name=bb20160318_UAS_imagelocations_browse.png (PNG)
    Map of image locations represented as white squares along the gray flight path with context maps of the area on the left side.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 18-Mar-2016
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: digital text files
  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 World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84).
      The ellipsoid used is WGS 84.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257223563.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Altitude_System_Definition:
      Altitude_Datum_Name: Mean sea level
      Altitude_Resolution: 0.01
      Altitude_Distance_Units: feet
      Altitude_Encoding_Method: Attribute values
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    bb20160318_UAS_imagelocations.csv
    These files contain the time and position at which photos were taken for use with Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    FileName
    Name with extension of the image file in the form nnnnnnnFA__fnncnn_yyyymmddThhmmssZ_DJI_nnnn.JPG, where nnnnnnnFA is the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center’s field activity number; fnncnn is the flight number and camera number specific to the survey; yyyymmddThhmmssZ is the date and time (UTC) in format year, month, day, T, hours, minutes, seconds; and DJI_nnnn is the original filename. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey) character set
    Date
    Date in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on which the data were recorded in the field in YYYY-MM-DD format. (Source: DJI Phantom 3 camera)
    Range of values
    Minimum:2016-03-18
    Maximum:2016-03-18
    Time
    Time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) at which the data were recorded in the field in HH:MM:SS format. (Source: DJI Phantom 3 camera)
    Range of values
    Minimum:15:01:02
    Maximum:15:29:15
    Longitude
    Longitude of camera referenced to WGS 1984 in decimal degrees. West longitude is recorded as negative values. (Source: DJI Phantom 3 GPS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:-70.64515436
    Maximum:-70.63977431
    Units:signed decimal degrees
    Resolution:1.0E-8
    Latitude
    Latitude of camera referenced to WGS 1984 in decimal degrees. (Source: DJI Phantom 3 GPS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:41.58263575
    Maximum:41.58691575
    Units:signed decimal degrees
    Resolution:1.0E-8
    Altitude_ft
    Altitude of camera in approximate feet above mean sea level. (Source: DJI Phantom 3 GPS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:115.234
    Maximum:120.609
    Units:feet
    Resolution:1.0E-3
    Easting
    Easting of camera referenced to UTM Zone 19N NAD83 in meters. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    Range of values
    Minimum:362871.2669
    Maximum:363313.3234
    Units:meters
    Resolution:1.0E-4
    Northing
    Northing of camera referenced to UTM Zone 19N NAD83 in meters. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    Range of values
    Minimum:4604743.377
    Maximum:4605213.57
    Units:meters
    Resolution:1.0E-4
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The text file contains one header line and 250 additional lines with eight columns of comma-separated values. The header line contains column headings and are defined in the detailed description.
    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)
    • Emily J. Sturdivant
    • Erika E. Lentz
    • E. Robert Thieler
    • David P. Remsen
    • Simon Miner
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Emily J. Sturdivant
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, Massachusetts
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2230 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    esturdivant@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

These image locations are provided for use with the referenced images in creating an elevation model for Black Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 18-Mar-2016 (process 1 of 3)
    A DJI Phantom 3 Professional quadcopter with onboard camera, which uses a Sony EXMOR 1/2.3" sensor, was operated through a tablet computer for flight programming and control. The flight was conducted by Simon Miner of Woods Hole Analytics using Maps Made Easy (MME; https://www.mapsmadeeasy.com; Automotive Data Research) for route design and automated flight programming, including camera shutter control and vehicle return for battery replacement. Photographs were collected in JPEG format by the built-in camera on the DJI and capture information was stored in the accompanying Exchangeable Image File (EXIF). The approximate camera position at the time of each photograph was measured by a GPS receiver onboard the UAS and recorded in the image EXIF data. All activities were conducted according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Images were collected between approximately 1101 EDT at the most southwestern point and 1129 EDT at the most northeastern point. The survey was timed to correspond to the time of local low tide. Weather conditions included sunny skies, with winds of about 10.3 m/s. The DJI captured an image approximately every 20 meters in 15 east-west transects spaced 30 m apart at an altitude of 35 m (115 feet). This design ensured an image resolution of 2.5 cm and an overlap of 80 percent between photos. The images were downloaded from the camera on the day of flight. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Emily J. Sturdivant
    Geographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, Massachusetts

    508-548-8700 x2230 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    esturdivant@usgs.gov
    Date: 21-Feb-2017 (process 2 of 3)
    A Python version 2.7 script was run to extract GPS data from the image headers and format the output CSV table. The script used ExifTool (version 10.43) with the following command was used to create the CSV: exiftool -csv -filename -DateTimeOriginal -GPSLongitude -GPSLatitude -GPSAltitude -n imagedirectory > bb20160318_UAS_imagelocations.csv The path to the image directory was substituted for 'imagedirectory' in the command. The -csv flag writes the information out in a comma-delimited format. The -n option formats the latitude and longitude as signed decimal degrees. The DateTimeOriginal tag was used because the GPS time was not recorded in the EXIF data by the UAS.
    The table output by ExifTool was reformatted and the fields Easting and Northing were added. This involved converting the datetime from Eastern Daylight time to UTC (added 4 hours) and then splitting the values into dates and times. Then, fields SourceFile and DateTimeOriginal were removed. Fields GPSLongitude, GPSLatitude, and GPSAltitude were stripped of the 'GPS' prefix and ‘_ft’ was added to the Altitude column label. The longitude and latitude coordinate pairs referenced to WGS84 were converted to easting and northing in UTM Zone 19 North with a datum transformation to NAD83 using the function 'transform' in the Python module 'pyproj' and the values were stored in new columns 'Easting' and 'Northing'. The transformation was performed in Python with the following call, in which lon and lat stand in for the value of longitude and latitude in one row and east and north are the resulting easting and northing in NAD83 UTM Zone 19N:
    import pyproj east, north = pyproj.transform(p1=pyproj.Proj(init='epsg:4326'), p2=pyproj.Proj(init='epsg:26919'), x=lon, y=lat) Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Emily J. Sturdivant
    Geographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, Massachusetts

    508-548-8700 x2230 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    esturdivant@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 camera position at the time of image capture was acquired through GPS and GLONASS positioning. Horizontal locations are nominally accurate to approximately 3 feet, but may be off by as much as 10 feet.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Vertical camera position at the time of image capture was acquired through GPS and GLONASS positioning. Vertical locations are less accurate than horizontal positions, nominally accurate to about 5 feet.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    An entry and position is provided for every image present in the UAS images dataset.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Camera position at the time of image capture were acquired through GPS and GLONASS positioning. Geographic coordinates are referenced to WGS 84 and altitudes are in feet above mean sea level. Consistency checks were performed by comparing the images with the camera positions projected over a map of the study area. All information was found to agree. Image filenames take the form of nnnnnnnFA__fnncnn_yyyymmddThhmmssZ_DJI_nnnn.JPG, where nnnnnnnFA is the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center’s field activity number; fnncnn is the flight number and camera number specific to the survey; yyyymmddThhmmssZ is the date and time (UTC) in format year, month, day, T, hours, minutes, seconds; and DJI_nnnn is the original filename.

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? The data include a CSV of coordinates at which images were collected during a UAS flight and one PNG image with a map indicating locations at which photos were taken. FGDC CSDGM metadata in XML format is also included.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, the USGS, the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Analytics, 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?
    The file is plain text with comma-separated-values. It can be read with most editors and spreadsheet programs. The browse graphic is a digital image and can be displayed with most image viewing software.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 19-Nov-2021
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
Attn: Emily J. Sturdivant
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

508-548-8700 x2230 (voice)
508-457-2310 (FAX)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the metadata contact is no longer with the USGS or the email is otherwise invalid.
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_F7KW5F04/bb20160318_UAS_imagelocations_meta.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.50 on Fri Nov 19 13:02:54 2021