U.S. Geological Survey
2018
Chimney Bluffs camera locations and attitudes for low-altitude aerial images collected during unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over of the Lake Ontario shoreline in the vicinity of Chimney Bluffs, New York in July 2017
1.0
digital text files
data release
DOI:10.5066/P9W81QEZ
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program
https://doi.org/10.5066/P9W81QEZ
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5b28587ae4b0592076260e42
Christopher R. Sherwood
Sandra M. Brosnahan
Seth D. Ackerman
Jonathan Borden
Ellyn T. Montgomery
Elizabeth A. Pendleton
Emily J. Sturdivant
2018
Aerial imagery and photogrammetric products from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over the Lake Ontario shoreline at Chimney Bluffs, New York, July 14, 2017
1.0
data release
DOI:10.5066/P9W81QEZ
Reston, VA
U.S. Geological Survey
Suggested citation: Sherwood, C.R., Brosnahan, S.M., Ackerman, S.D., Borden, Jonathan, Montgomery, E.T., Pendleton, E.A., and Sturdivant, E.J., 2018, Aerial imagery and photogrammetric products from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over the Lake Ontario shoreline at Chimney Bluffs, New York, July 14, 2017: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9W81QEZ.
https://doi.org/10.5066/P9W81QEZ
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5b06fb1ae4b0ac450c98b389
Low-altitude (80-100 meters above ground level) digital images were obtained from a camera mounted on a 3DR Solo quadcopter, a small unmanned aerial system (UAS), in three locations along the Lake Ontario shoreline in New York during July 2017. These data were collected to document and monitor effects of high lake levels, including shoreline erosion, inundation, and property damage in the vicinity of Chimney Bluffs State Park, New York. This data release includes images tagged with locations determined from the UAS GPS; tables with updated estimates of camera positions and attitudes based on the photogrammetric reconstruction; tables listing locations of the base stations, ground control points, and transect points; geolocated, RGB-colored point clouds; orthomosaic images; and digital elevation models for each of the survey regions. Collection of these data was supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the State of New York Departments of State and Environmental Conservation, and the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program and was conducted under USGS field activity number 2017-042-FA.
This camera location data provides updated image location information as determined by the Agisoft Photoscan software as a result of processing that included automated image alignment, lens calibration and using independent ground control data. The cameras (or images) noted in this table were imported into the Photoscan software and, if successfully aligned, they were used in the creation of the final photogrammetric products (including point clouds, digital elevation models and orthomosaics). In addition to XYZ location, attitude data estimates (yaw, pitch and roll), and error values from the original photo GPS data are also included.
For more information about this field activity, see https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2017-042-FA. Photogrammetric processing using ground control points produces estimates of camera location and attitude (roll, pitch, and yaw) with much higher accuracies. These tables contain position and attitude estimates derived from photogrammetric post-processing and are considered to have better positional accuracy than the GPS information provided in the EXIF headers in the images in the photo dataset.
20170714
ground condition
None planned
-76.916299
-76.905190
43.291886
43.285633
USGS Metadata Identifier
USGS:5b28587ae4b0592076260e42
None
U.S. Geological Survey
USGS
Coastal and Marine Geology Program
CMGP
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
WHCMSC
State of New York Department of State
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEMA
3DR Solo quadcopter
Ricoh GRII
low-altitude aerial imagery
aerial imagery
shoreline photographs
photographs
photos
UAS
Unmanned aerial system
lakeshore
Agisoft Photoscan
camera locations
navigation
Global Positioning System
GPS
field activity number 2017-042-FA
USGS Thesaurus
navigational data
remote sensing
aerial photography
ISO 19115 Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
inlandWaters
location
elevation
None
USA
Great Lakes
New York
Lake Ontario
Chimney Bluffs
Chimney Bluffs State Park
Huron, NY
none
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as the source of this information.
U.S. Geological Survey
Sandra Brosnahan
Physical Scientist
mailing and physical address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
Massachusetts
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2265
508-457-2310
sbrosnahan@usgs.gov
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/5b28587ae4b0592076260e42/?name=2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations_browse.jpg
Browse image of the camera locations
JPEG
Coordinates recorded for each record describe discrete positions in space and the visual reflectance at the time of capture and the estimated position based on automated alignment done by the photogrammetry software. Agisoft Photoscan software determines the photos used in the construction of the products (Point Cloud, DEM and Orthomosaic) based on the ability to align the photo and the usability of valid tie points within an image. Images that were not successfully aligned but were imported into the software retain the original camera (image) position data but have the no-data value (NaN) for all of the processed data fields. Some photos from each flight were not loaded into photoscan by the processor. These photographs are typically from takeoff and landing, and were eliminated to reduce the total number of photographs with in the project, but have been provided in the photo zip files in this publication.
Four UAS flights (f41 - f44) were conducted in Chimney Bluffs survey areas along the Lake Ontario shoreline of New York. During the 4 successful flights, photographs were captured every 2 seconds. Gaps in sequential 2-second photo intervals exist because some photos were deleted because of bad exposure, slow shutter speed, excessive tilt, or low altitude during takeoff and landing. Not all of the images loaded into the photogrammetry software were used in the reconstruction. Not all images in the photo zip files were loaded into Photoscan. Some were omitted automatically because they yielded an insufficient number of tie points relating them to the others. Location and attitude information was calculated for all of the images used in the reconstruction, and that information is provided for only for those photos. A total of 1665 photos were imported into the Chimney Bluffs project. Photos what were not aligned in the project are included in this data table but have the no-data value (NaN) for all of the processed data fields.
Horizontal positions recorded in the UAS flight logs and later applied to the EXIF portion of the images were derived from a mRo GPS (u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade), which received signals from GPS and GLONASS satellites, but are otherwise uncorrected. Horizontal locations for the original photo dateset are considered accurate to approximately 3 meters, but may be off by as much as 10 meters. Horizontal camera positions, presented in this dataset, are calculated from photogrammetry and are considered more accurate because the location takes into account the overall reconstruction of the Photoscan project incorporating tie points from adjacent aerial photos and the ground control point data. The estimated camera positions are likely accurate to within 0.2 m.
Vertical positions recorded in the UAS flight logs and later applied to the EXIF portion of the images were derived from a mRo GPS (u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade), which receives signals from GPS and GLONASS satellites, but is otherwise uncorrected. Vertical locations from the GPS are considered to be less accurate than horizontal positions and may be off by more than 10 meters. Like the horizontal camera positions, the vertical camera positions, presented in this dataset, are calculated from photogrammetry and are considered more accurate because the location takes into account the overall reconstruction of the Photoscan project incorporating tie points from adjacent aerial photos and the ground control point data. The estimated camera positions are likely accurate to within 0.2 m.
U.S. Geological Survey
unpublished material
Field geotagged aerial imagery from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over of the Lake Ontario shoreline in the vicinity of Chimney Bluffs, New York in July 2017
raster digital images
20170714
ground condition of when images were taken
geotagged aerial digital images
These are the images geotagged in the field and used to produce the subsequent photogrammetric products. The images available from the larger work citation of this data release have updated geotag information.
U.S. Geological Survey
2018
Ground control point and transect locations associated with images collected during unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over the Lake Ontario shoreline in the vicinity of Chimney Bluffs, New York in July 2017
available from the Larger Work citation of this dataset (Suggested citation: Sherwood, C.R., Brosnahan, S.M., Ackerman, S.D., Borden, Jonathan, Montgomery, E.T., Pendleton, E.A., and Sturdivant, E.J., 2018, Aerial imagery and photogrammetric products from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over the Lake Ontario shoreline at Chimney Bluffs, New York, July 14, 2017: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9W81QEZ.)
text data files
20170714
ground condition of when images were taken
GCPs
The ground control points (GCPs; not transect points - see metadata for that dataset available from the larger work citation for more information) were used to geolocate the photogrammetric products.
During USGS field activity 2017-042-FA, digital images were taken approximately 80 and 100 m above the ground on July 10 - 14, 2017, with a Ricoh GRII digital camera mounted in a 3DR Solo quadcopter operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. This camera location file, for the Chimney Bluffs project, was created using a standard processing flow as described in the processing steps below. These camera locations are the product of one of several photogrammetry projects from field activity 2017-042-FA. Two projects incorporated flights over Braddock Bay on July 10 and 11, 2017 (Braddock West, Braddock East); four were used for flights in the vicinity of Sodus Bay on July 12, 13, and 14, 2017 (Lake Bluff / Crescent Bar, Crescent Bar / Charles Point, Sodus North, and Greig Street); and one project incorporated flights over Chimney Bluffs on July 14, 2017.
For this camera location file, original camera position estimates were determine using Mission Planner software (verion 1.3.49). These position estimates are written to the header of JPEG images in a process know as geotagging. Geotagging functionality in Mission Planner is accessed from the main menu by clicking 'control'and 'F', and then choosing 'GeoRef Images' from the menu that pops up. Geotagging requires a telemetry log (created by mission planner during survey flight), photos (collected by the Ricoh camera during flight), and a time offset between camera and GPS if applicable. The updated camera locations also present in this dataset were determined using photogrammetry software (Agisoft Photoscan Professional v. 1.3.2), and differ from the original position estimates due to photogrammetric correction and ground control adjustments.
201709
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Christopher R. Sherwood
Research Oceanographer
mailing and physical address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
Massachusetts
02543
U.S.A.
508-548-8700 x2269
508 457 2310
csherwood@usgs.gov
The following steps are the processing flow for creating digital elevation models from UAS flights:
1. Geotagged images created in the field (see source citation and previous processing step) containing useful imagery from the survey area were imported into Agisoft Photoscan Professional v. 1.3.2 software using the “Add photos…” tool. Photos taken before and immediately after takeoff, photos taken immediately prior to and after landing, and photos with 100% water were not loaded into the project or not used if they were. Project coordinate system is set to EPSG::7660 WGS84 (G1150) geocentric coordinate system.
2. Using ”Convert”, the coordinate system of the images (called “cameras” in Photoscan) was converted from native latitude/longitude WGS84 (G1150) coordinate system to meters in NAD83/UTM zone 18N (EPSG::26918).
3. The photos were processed through an initial alignment and optimization procedure using the following settings:
Alignment - Accuracy: “High”; Pair selection: “Reference”; Key point limit: 80,000; Tie point limit; 0 (unlimited). Adaptive camera model fitting option was selected.
Optimization - Lens-calibration parameters f, cx, cy, k1, k2, k3, p1, and p2 were included; b1, b2, and higher-order parameters k4, p3, and p4 were not.
4. The sparse point cloud (also known as tie points; created as a result of photo alignment and optimization) was edited using an iterative error-reduction procedure to filter the data. This was done in several iterations of a process called "Gradual Selection" to first to reduce reconstruction uncertainty (to a unitless value of 10) and then projection accuracy (to a weighted value of 3).
5. Ground control points were created by first letting the software automatically detect markers where it finds all of the 4-ft square black/white targets deployed (false targets that are sometimes detected were manually deleted). The automatically-generated marker labels were manually changed to match the names in the survey notes and GCP location files.
6. "Import markers” was used to load the GCP location files, which assigned coordinates (northing, easting, and elevation in UTM Zone 18 North meters in NAD83 and NAVD88 coordinate systems) from the location file to the detected markers. The locations of auto-detected markers were retained.
7. Another round of "Gradual Selection" was done to reduce the reprojection error (to a value of 0.3 pixels, unless more than 10% of the points would be removed).
8. A dense point cloud was then created with the parameters "High" quality and “Aggressive” depth filtering.
9. A DEM was create with the parameters Source data="Dense Cloud" Interpolation="Enabled" Resolution="0.05"
10. An orthomosaic was create with the parameters Surface="DEM" Blending mode="Mosaic" Pixel size X="0.025" Pixel size Y="0.025"
11. The camera locations data (this dataset) was exported in CSV text format (2017-07-10_ChimneyBluffs_CAMERAS.csv) from Photoscan with the following parameters (Items=Cameras, Delimiter=Comma, Columns=[all boxes checked on] with Precision=6). This file was manually edited to remove columns that contained no data for all records and to fill those columns for the photos not successfully aligned with a no-data value of "NaN". Then the file renamed to 2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations.csv).
20170913
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Christopher R. Sherwood
Research Oceanographer
mailing and physical address
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
Massachusetts
02543
U.S.A.
508-548-8700 x2269
508 457 2310
csherwood@usgs.gov
Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword.
20200806
U.S. Geological Survey
VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
Mailing and Physical
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2251
508-457-2310
vatnipp@usgs.gov
Point
Point
1665
Universal Transverse Mercator
0.999600
-75.00000
0.000
500000.0000
0.0000
coordinate pair
0.001
0.001
meters
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 80
6378137.000000
298.257222101
North American Vertical Datum of 1988
0.000001
meters
Attribute values
Chimney Bluffs camera locations
These locations have been processed using photogrammetric software and ground control points and are considered more accurate than the GPS coordinates recorded by the UAS-attached GPS and included in the photograph EXIF tags.
U.S. Geological Survey
Label
Photograph name in camera format
U.S. Geological Survey
character set of orignial photograph name
X/Easting
Easting coordinate of the camera in UTM Zone 18 meters, NAD83 (EPSG::26918) as determined by the UAS-attached GPS and applied to photo during 'geotagging'. These coordinates were converted from WGS84 to NAD83, upon import to Photoscan. Note these coordinates may be slightly different than the coordinates in the JPG photo EXIF GPS-tags because a different process was used to geotag the images in the field data (which was then used in Photoscan).
U.S. Geological Survey
344584.0192
345392.4855
meters
Y/Northing
Northing coordinate of the camera in UTM Zone 18 meters, NAD83 (EPSG::26918) as determined by the UAS-attached GPS and applied to photo during 'geotagging'. These coordinates were converted from WGS84 to NAD83, upon import to Photoscan. Note these coordinates may be slightly different than the coordinates in the JPG photo EXIF GPS-tags because a different process was used to geotag the images in the field data (which was then used in Photoscan).
U.S. Geological Survey
4794374.333
4794934.609
meters
Z/Altitude
Orthometric height of the camera in NAD83 (EPSG::26918) as determined by the UAS-attached GPS and applied to photo during 'geotagging'. These altitudes were converted from WGS84 (ellipsoidal heights) to NAD83, upon import to Photoscan. Note these coordinates may be slightly different than the coordinates in the JPG photo EXIF GPS-tags because a different process was used to geotag the images in the field data (which was then used in Photoscan).
U.S. Geological Survey
96.410049
231.670049
meters
Error
total difference (in meters) between the initial coordinates from the UAS GPS log (included in the photograph EXIF GPStags header) and the coordinates estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction.
U.S. Geological Survey
0.353482
32.497994
meters
X_error
X difference (in meters) between the initial Easting coordinates from the UAS GPS log (included in the photograph EXIF GPStags header) and the coordinates estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction.
U.S. Geological Survey
-31.084222
23.968332
meters
Y_error
Y difference (in meters) between the initial Northing coordinates from the UAS GPS log (included in the photograph EXIF GPStags header) and the coordinates estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction.
U.S. Geological Survey
-20.618185
22.51113
meters
Z_error
Z difference (in meters) between the initial altitude coordinates from the UAS GPS log (included in the photograph EXIF GPStags header) and the coordinates estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction.
U.S. Geological Survey
-13.419674
7.778454
meters
X_est
X-coordinate of the camera in UTM Zone 18 meters, NAD83 (EPSG::26918) estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction using ground control points
U.S. Geological Survey
344584.8333
345393.5749
meters
Y_est
Y-coordinate of the camera in UTM Zone 18 meters, NAD83 (EPSG::26918) estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction using ground control points
U.S. Geological Survey
4794373.61
4794934.182
meters
Z_est
Z-coordinate (altitude) of the camera in meters adjusted to the NAVD88 orthometric heights as estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction using ground control points
U.S. Geological Survey
96.606998
227.191181
meters
Yaw_est
estimated (by photogrammetric reconstruction) rotation of the camera relative to the y-axis
U.S. Geological Survey
0.091947
359.897466
degrees
Pitch_est
estimated (by photogrammetric reconstruction) rotation of the camera relative to the x-axis
U.S. Geological Survey
-21.336415
74.260843
degrees
Roll_est
estimated (by photogrammetric reconstruction) rotation of the camera relative to the z-axis
U.S. Geological Survey
-30.879107
29.068006
degrees
The list of images and camera location information are provided in a CSV text file named 2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations.csv. The text contains rows of data records; there are 14 columns of data separated by commas. The first header row specifies the column headings for the data, as follows: Label (full name of the image file), X/Easting, Y/Northing, and Z/Altitude (initial horizontal and vertical coordinates from the UAS GPS log), Error_(m), X_error Y_error, Z_error (total distance, and x, y, an z components of the distances (meters) between the initial coordinates from the UAS GPS log and the coordinates estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction), X_est, Y_est, Z_est (coordinates estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction), Yaw_est, Pitch_est, Roll_est (camera attitude estimated from the photogrammetric reconstruction). The fields X/Easting, Y/Northing, and Z/Altitude are the uncorrected horizontal and vertical values and are therefore reported in this PhotoScan export in the coordinate system and vertical datum of original projection of the ChimneyBluffs project (see process number 2 in the processing steps above). The fields X_est, Y_est, Z_est are in coordinates corrected by the image alignment and photogrammetry process; the X_est and Y_est are in the horizontal datum of the PhotoScan project (NAD83 UTM Zone 18 EPSG::26918) and the Z_est values are referenced to the NAVD88 vertical datum. If the image was not successfully aligned in the photogrammetric reconstruction, estimated camera location and attitude are not available, and only the first five columns contain valid data. Missing data for these unused cameras (images) are indicated by "NaN".
USGS Field Activity 2017-042-FA
U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
mailing and physical address
Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
Denver
CO
80225
1-888-275-8747
sciencebase@usgs.gov
This dataset (2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations) contains the CSV file with camera locations (2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations.csv), a browse graphic (2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations_browse.jpg), and FGDC CSDGM compliant metadata in XML format.
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 U.S. Geological Survey 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.
CSV
A CSV files with camera locations (2017042FA_ChimneyBluffs_CameraLocations.csv) and FGDC CSDGM compliant metadata in XML format.
0.233
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5b28587ae4b0592076260e42
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/5b28587ae4b0592076260e42
https://doi.org/10.5066/P9W81QEZ
The first link is to the page containing the data. The second is a direct link to download all data available from the page as a zip file. And the final link is to the publication landing page.
none
The CSV file is plain text with comma separated values. It can be read with most text editors or spreadsheet programs.
20200806
Sandra Brosnahan
U.S. Geological Survey
Physical Scientist
mailing and physical address
U.S. Geological Survey
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2265
508-457-2310
sbrosnahan@usgs.gov
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998
local time
None
None