Drones for Citizen Science

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Look what I can do!Harnessing drone enthusiasm for Citizen Science initiatives

Britta Ricker, PhD

University of Washington Tacoma

CUGOS Spring Fling 2015 UW Seattle

5/13/15 @bricker #CUGOS2015 #dronie

http://www.tacoma.uw.edu/urban-studies/master-science-geospatial-technologies

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Look what I can do!Harnessing drone enthusiasm for Citizen Science initiatives

Britta Ricker, PhD

University of Washington Tacoma

CUGOS Spring Fling 2015 UW Seattle

5/13/15 @bricker #CUGOS2015 #dronie


@bricker #CUGOS2015 #dronie 35/13/15

BackgroundGeoweb + Citizen Science +Drones + Enthusiasm

Work flow to use drones to create maps for Citizen Science Considerations

Pre-FlightFlightPost-processing

Discussion and Future Work

@bricker #CUGOS2015 #dronie 4

Background

• Geoweb: Interconnected tools and data available on the web that span multiple geographic regions and are geographically associated (Lake & Farley, 2007; Haklay et al., 2008)

• Revolutionized spatial data (Sui, 2008)

• but not democratized (Haklay, 2013; Sui et al, 2013)

• What is significant = access to satellite imagery! (Goodchild, 2007; Harvey, 2014; Kingsbury & Jones, 2009)

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Geoweb + Citizen Science

• Citizen Science “scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions.” (Haklay, 2015)

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Tell me, I forget.

Show me, I remember.

Involve me, I understand.

-Chinese Proverb

(Paulos et al., 2009)

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Challenges in Citizen Science

• Getting and keeping people evolved, excited and to keep coming back…

• Enthusiasm…emotional intensity • Hardware accessibility and extensibility• Software and data standards • Privacy/Anonymity• Authentication + Trust

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Why Drones for Mapping?

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Drones!

• Evoke negative connotation (Sandvik & Lohne, 2014) – Militarization– Surveillance

(Crampton et al., 2013)

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Drones for Good

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“Humanitarian weapon” (Sandvik & Lohne, 2014)

“Predators for Peace” (Chow, 2012)

Humanitarian

Search and Rescue


469,000 results on google

drones and enthusiasm

http://www.slashgear.com/nasas-drone-airspace-expert-clamps-down-on-enthusiasm-01343803/

http://time.com/3053003/martha-stewart-drone/

http://chicagoinno.streetwise.co/2015/02/08/drone-regulation-drone-enthusiasm-up-despite-profit-restrictions/


YouTube search “drone”=

3,440,000

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How drones are being used elsewhere

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#Dronie Love

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Drones and Enthusiasm and Citizen Science #dronesforgood

Meyer (2015) Digital Humanitarianism

Ch. 4 “Crowd Computing Satellite and Aerial Imagery”

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Knowledge sharing communities

• Micro Mappers• UAViators - Humanitarian• DIYDrones

• OpenDroneMap

• droneAdventures• Drone Mapper• Conservation Drones• Drone code• …

http://irevolution.net/2014/09/09/piloting-micromappers-in-namibia/

http://irevolution.net/2014/09/09/piloting-micromappers-in-namibia/


Drones for Good• Archaeology• Emergency response• Natural resource management• Epidemiology

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• (Precision)Agriculture• Mines and Quarries• Construction• Remote Sensing

(Colomina & Molina, 2014; Everaerts, 2008; Forance et al., 2014; Upton et al, 2015)


Potential benefits of using drones for Citizen Science?

Temporal ResolutionSpatial ResolutionIncreased coverage

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Could complement or augment existing data collection methods (Crampton et al., 2013)

Big Raster DataDrone image

Google Earth


How/Can enthusiasm for drone use be harnessed and incorporated into participatory mapping for

citizen science initiatives?

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Research Question


Aim:

Identify a feasible workflow to create maps from aerial imagery captured from drones

for citizen science initiatives (=cheap + easy)

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Key Considerations

1. Pre-Flight

2. Flight

3. Image Processing

4. Post-processing

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Partnering with local scientists

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Lake Wapato

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Drone classifications

• Flight characteristics• Takeoff and landing methods• Source of Power• Weight (including payload)

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Drone classifications

Takeoff and landing methods

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Fixed Wing (Airplane) Rotor Wing (Helicopter)

Which Drone to buy?Drone Specs

5/13/15 @bricker #CUGOS2015 #dronie 26

Eisenbeiss, 2008 http://www.igp-data.ethz.ch/berichte/blaue_berichte_pdf/105.pdf


Cost of the drone is not the only cost

Key Considerations

1. Pre-Flight

2. Flight

3. Image Processing

4. Post-processing

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$ $$


DJI Phantom Vision 2 +

• Flight time ~25 min• Return to “home”

when battery is low• Compass and GPS• No fly zone• Camera and gimble• 14 megapixel camera• http

://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2-vision-plus/spec

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http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2-vision-plus/spec




Pre Flight:

Read the manual!

Plan your flight.

Have a back up plan.

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(Nex & Remondino, 2013)


MapBox ESRI

Are you in a “No Fly Zone”?

https://www.mapbox.com/drone/no-fly/

http://story.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/?appid=79798a56715c4df183448cc5b7e1b999


Try to Avoid this…



Flight

• Angle of Nadir

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Flight

• Angle of Nadir

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Manual Processing Strategies

1. Correct Fisheye

2. Process (Stitch) imagery – orthophoto

3. Post -Process imagery

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Processing Images

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Share Online

Software selction

Stitch Imagery

Capture imagery

Drone Flying Fun!

Manually

PS/GIMP

ArcGIS/QGIS

Automatically

Pix4D

AgisoftOpenDroneMap

Map Knitter, Google Earth, PDF, MapBox, GeoServer + OpenLayers, ESRI Online…


Processing Images

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Share Online

Software selction

Stitch Imagery

Capture imagery

Drone Flying Fun!

Manually

PS/GIMP

ArcGIS/QGIS

Automatically

Pix4D

AgisoftOpenDroneMap



Manual correction and stitching

Correct Fisheye using GIMP Filters→Distorts→Lens distortion →

In the new window change Main to -55 & Edge to 10 modify as needed

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Stitch imagery

• ArcGIS – Georeference• QGIS• MapKnitter

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Processing Images

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Share Online

Software selction

Stitch Imagery

Capture imagery

Drone Flying Fun!

Manually

PS/GIMP

ArcGIS/QGIS

Automatically

Pix4D

AgisoftOpenDroneMap



Software Options

Proprietary • Pix4D• Agisoft• Other

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Open Source• Visual Structure from

Motion System (VisualSFM)

• Clustering Views for Multi-view Stereo (CMVS)

• OpenDroneMap


Pix4D Mobile App – for camera

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Flight PathAuto PilotFree flight

https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202557269--Android-Pix4Dmapper-Capture-App-Getting-started


Landslide in Des Moines,

WA

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Landslide in Des Moines, WA

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Pix4D Online processed in 4 minutes


2012 2015


2012 2015


Digital Surface Model(DSM)

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Pix4D

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Pix4D

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AgiSoft

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Open Drone Map

Created and Run by Steven Mather

https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/OpenDroneMap

http://opendronemap.github.io/odm/

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Point CloudDigital Surface Model (DSM)

Textured DSMDigital Elevation Models (DEM)

Orthophotography






Major potential benefits

Exciting and Fun Look what I can

do! Access to imagery

of high temporal and spatial resolution

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https://twitter.com/bricker/status/578896565491802112


Lessons Learned

• Setting up base maps (raster) is challenging!• Drones take practice to fly• Proprietary Software is expensive but

increasingly easy to use!• Open Source Software is coming along.• Citizen science might not be ready…still

need specialists.

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1. Drone owners share photos

2. Remote sensing (students) experts/ those with programming skills (open drone map!), access to expensive software (Pix4D) stitch images

3. Volunteers (citizen scientists) classify imagery

4. Expert Scientists verify results?

5. Share new knowledge!

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The Dream:Develop an online platform for


Thank you!

CUGOS!, Andy James, Ali Modarres

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Masters of Science in Geospatial Technologieshttp://

www.tacoma.uw.edu/urban-studies/master-science-geospatial-technologies






ReferencesBalletti, C., Guerra, F., Tsioukas, V., & Vernier, P. (2014). Calibration of action cameras for photogrammetric purposes. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 14(9), 17471–90. doi:10.3390/s140917471Chow, J. (2012, April). Predators for Peace. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/27/predators-for-peace/Crampton, J. W., Graham, M., Poorthuis, A., Shelton, T., Stephens, M., Wilson, M. W., & Zook, M. (2013). Beyond the geotag: situating “big data” and leveraging the potential of the geoweb. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 40(2), 130–139. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2013.777137Eisenbeiss, H., & Grün, A. (2009). UAV Photogrammetry. Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (Vol. Doctor of). doi:doi:10.3929/ethz-a-005939264Everaerts, J. (2008). The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs) for remote sensing and mapping. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XXXVII, 1187–1192. Retrieved from http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXVII/congress/1_pdf/203.pdfFornace, K. M., Drakeley, C. J., William, T., Espino, F., & Cox, J. (2014). Mapping infectious disease landscapes: unmanned aerial vehicles and epidemiology. Trends in Parasitology, 30(11), 514–519. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2014.09.001Haklay, M. (2013). Neogeography and the delusion of democratisation. Environment and Planning A, 45(1), 55–69. Retrieved from http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=a45184Haklay, M. (2015). Citizen Science and Policy: A European Perspective.Kingsbury, P., & Jones, J. (2009). Walter Benjamins Dionysian Adventures on Google Earth. Geoforum, 40(4), 502–513.Lake, R., & Farley, J. (2007). Infrastructure for the Geospatial Web. In A. Scharl & K. Tochterman (Eds.), The geospatial web: How geobrowsers, social software, and Web 2.0 are shaping the network society (pp. 15–26). London: Springer.Meier, P. (2015). Digital Humanitarians: How Big Data is changing the face of humanitarian response. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.Nex, F., & Remondino, F. (2013). UAV for 3D mapping applications: a review. Applied Geomatics, 6(1), 1–15. doi:10.1007/s12518-013-0120-xPaulos, E., Foth, M., Satchell, C., Kim, Y., Dourish, P., & Choi, J. (2008). Ubiquitous Sustainability: Citizen Science and Activism. In Workshop at the 10th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2008).Sandvik, K. B., & Lohne, K. (2014). The Rise of the Humanitarian Drone: Giving Content to an Emerging Concept. Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 43(1), 145–164. doi:10.1177/0305829814529470Sui, D., Goodchild, M., & Elwood, S. (2013). Volunteered Geographic Information, and the Growing Digital Divide. In D. Sui., S. Elwood, & M. Goodchild (Eds.), (pp. 1–12). Dordrecht: Springer.Sui, D. Z. (2008). The wikification of GIS and its consequences: Or Angelina Jolie’s new tattoo and the future of GIS. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 32(1), 1–5.Upton, V., Ryan, M., O’Donoghue, C., & Dhubhain, A. N. (2015). Combining conventional and volunteered geographic information to identify and model forest recreational resources. Applied Geography, 60, 69–76. doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.03.007

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Data & Analytics

Drones for Citizen Science