Aerial Photo-Point Monitoring

Aerial photo-point monitoring is a method of tracking changes in vegetation and ecosystem health by taking repeat photographs of an area over time from an elevated viewpoint. It’s like traditional photo-point monitoring, but with an aerial perspective, and on a landscape scale.

Aerial photo-points can be used to qualitatively monitor the effectiveness of restoration projects, track the spread of invasive species, document changes in land use, and provide a visual record of change that can be used to track progress, make informed decisions, and communicate results to stakeholders.

Provides a visual record of change: Aerial photographs provide a clear and concise way to track changes in vegetation and ecosystem health over time.

Can be used to monitor large areas: Aerial photo-point monitoring can be used to monitor large areas, making it a cost-effective way to track changes across a landscape.

Can be used to monitor a variety of changes: Aerial photo-point monitoring can be used to track a variety of changes, including changes in vegetation cover, species composition, and land use.

Communication and education: The clear before and after photos of the changes to your site leave an undeniable impression on your partners and audience.

Monitoring the effectiveness of restoration projects: Aerial photo-point monitoring can be used to track the progress of restoration projects, such as river or wetland reforestation, invasive species removal, native plantings, ecological uplift due to beaver introduction, stage 0 progression tracking, and many more.

Tracking the spread of invasive species: Aerial photo-point monitoring can be used to track the spread of invasive species, such as cheatgrass, reed-canary grass, or armenian blackberry.

Documenting changes in land use: Aerial photo-point monitoring can be used to document changes in land use, such as the conversion of forests to agriculture or the development of new housing subdivisions.

By providing detailed, high-resolution images captured from aerial viewpoints, these services enable the detection and analysis of environmental changes, land use alterations, and ecosystem dynamics on a broad scale.

Our services typically utilize advanced drones or aircraft equipped with high-resolution cameras along with onboard sensors for positioning and image composition. Each aerial photo-point is described by 5 variables: latitude, longitude, altitude, heading, and camera tilt angle. The drone contains on-board sensors to collect these 5 values: a GPS receiver, a barometric altimeter, digital compass, and a gimbal position sensor for the camera angle. ForeSight has developed custom software to recreate any aerial image in these 5 variables.

Yes, likely! If the original photos contain the metadata from the drone used to capture the images, we can likely collect the information we need to re-take photos from the same perspective and capture the same composition.

The frequency depends on the project needs. It can range from bi-annual to annually, or even more frequently for dynamic landscapes, for example quarterly to track seasonal changes, or at key project milestones.

Because of the oblique angle used for most aerial photo-point photos, these images aren’t appropriate for quantitative measurements or tracking. The real power of the photo-point is for your audience to see intuitively, and at-a-glance, the quality of the changes. If you want to make measurements and track changes quantitatively, please check out our Aerial Mapping service.

We provide comprehensive support, including precise image-pair alignment, custom slider or animation creation, and follow-up consultations to advice on integration and best delivery methods.

Absolutely. We always tailor our services to meet the specific requirements of your project. We recognize that there’s no one-size fits all, and our value is in customer satisfaction, reciprocity, and building a strong community around conservation.