Aerial survey specialist Bluesky has announced the start of the 2016 flying season. Following a cold start to meteorological Spring, warmer temperatures and below average precipitation has allowed Bluesky to mobilise its dedicated fleet of aerial survey aircraft on more than 50 occasions.
This advantageous start to the 2016 flying season has seen the capture of more than 20,000 square kilometres – the size of Wales – of high resolution aerial photography, representing nearly a third of the company’s ambitious annual target. In addition to aerial photography, Bluesky’s survey planes have also been capturing data for the creation of detailed 3D height models and Colour Infrared imagery.
“This has been a positive start to the 2016 data capture season,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky. “We have a number of large contracts – each with their own demanding targets, so an early start to the season is essential if we are to keep up with the growing demand for up to date, high resolution, high accuracy and high quality geographic data products.”
Bluesky, in partnership with Getmapping, is a supplier of high resolution aerial photography, detailed 3D Digital Terrain and Surface Models (DTMs / DSMs) and Colour Infrared imagery to Central Government organisations under the multi-million pound Aerial Photography for Great Britain (APGB) contract. Setting a new standard for the capture of geographic data in Great Britain, Bluesky, with a three rather than five year update programme, plans to capture in excess of 60,000 square kilometres of data in 2016.
The 22,500 square kilometres, an area larger than the whole of Wales, captured to date includes large parts of Northumberland and Snowdonia at 25 centimetre resolution as well as the urban areas of Birmingham, including Dudley, Wolverhampton and Solihull, and Nottingham at 10 cm and 12.5 cm resolution respectively.