As happens in this world of constant communications, I heard of the new OpenAerialMap site via an IM chat with Jeff Johnson of PictEarth on Sunday lunchtime !
The idea behind OAM is for it to become an online repository for community generated aerial photography, sourced from Kites, Low cost UAV’s , etc. I’m sure many still see the creation of Open Source imagery captured by amateurs as a Joke, but then people were not serious about OSM !
It’s true that OAM cannot really replace the global systematic cover offered by satellite imagery or the professional aerial photography producers, but for applications where discrete imagery is required of a particular location at high resolution, or to cover a specific event or activity (high temporal resolution) there is a niche which can be filled by this imagery, and the services like OAM which distribute it.
As with OSM, OAM can work because the tools to both capture and distribute this type of Geodata have become democratised to the extent where it is possible for the amateur to respond to events faster than the professional,and to make that data available without the restrictions of conventional licensing. Although the distribution of large amounts of imagery represents all sorts of new challenges in developing a robust operational system.
As with traditional mapping, we are not looking at a replacement to the traditional top-down centralist approach to the creation of Geodata, however there is now at least an alternative, that may become more significant over time.
I wonder if there are plans to use include Geobase SPOT data set of Canada ?
Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.