High Res Baloon Mapping with Android

What about raster geodata? -- http://mapknitter.org and http://publiclaboratory.org/tool/balloon-mapping show you how to collect, composite, and publish your own raster maps. I think some people at first wonder why, but you only have to look at some of the maps people are making to see why mapmaking is a lot more subjective than we thought:

* A map of OccupyOakland days before it was shut down (a perspective you won't see up on Google...): http://publiclaboratory.org/map/occupy-oakland-10am/2011-11-2
* A map of pollution plumes in urban waterways: http://mapknitter.org/map/search?q=newtown, http://mapknitter.org/tms/2011-08-06-brooklyn-newtowncreek/openlayers.html
* A map of illegal logging in Sumava, Czech Republic: http://mapknitter.org/map/search?q=sumava

(I should mention that if you want to get started balloon mapping quickly, you should get in on the Kickstarter to get your own balloon mapping kit: http://kck.st/x5vsyA)

Beyond that, what about multispectral raster mapping? Public Lab folks have been replicating NASA earth observation techniques by hacking cameras for infrared vegetation analysis, landfill monitoring, etc:

http://publiclaboratory.org/tool/near-infrared-camera
http://publiclaboratory.org/wiki/mapknitter-multispectral

There's a world of geodata out there which doesn't come from big corps or gov'ts, and tells a very different story.

Balloon Mapping the Oil Spill Proves Responsive, Open Source

In a recent Idea Lab post from the Center for Future Civic Media, Jeff Warren wrote about using inexpensive balloons and cheap cameras to make pseudo-satellite imagery of a given area. He had been using it to help people in poor areas establish title to their land (Google Maps satellites don't map poor areas as fast as these areas actually grow).But then the Gulf oil spill happened...

Phone calls and emails started coming in from suddenly out-of-work fishermen who were frustrated with British Petroleum, and also flummoxed by the lack of imagery explaining how and where the oil slick was spreading. Warren has since made multiple trips to the Gulf Coast, primarily to the Chandeleur Islands, where these same fishermen are taking him out to map the disaster. The resulting images, after being rectified and stitched together, are humbling. You can also read his recent Idea Lab account of his work there.

THE VALUE OF CHEAP MAPPING

You might ask, "What's the point of 'cheap' mapping?" Warren's work is proving to be invaluable for three reasons besides cost:

• It's responsive. You don't have to schedule a satellite flyover; you can just do it, multiple times if needed.
• It's open source, if you want it to be. You don't need a vendor's permission to use the images as you wish.
• It's high-res. And there's the key in a fast-changing situation like the one in the Gulf: you can overlay a high-resolution balloon-mapping image on a low-res Google Map and know exactly how dramatically the situation is changing...

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best ones. What other applications of balloon mapping can you imagine? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Standard Temperature and Pressure = 20 degrees C and 760 mm Mercury

STP = 760 mm pressure and 20 C

Weight of air per liter at STP      =     1.20 gr/l
Weight of helium per liter at STP   =     0.18 gr/l
Net lift per liter of helium at STP =     1.03 gr/l

A typical balloon should provide from 4 to 5 mm of overpressure and
reduce lift to .9935 of these figures.

For small spherical helium balloon sizes:

Dia. inches  Vol. Liters  Lift/gr    Lift/lbs

       6        1.85       1.90      0.0042 
       8        4.39       4.51      0.0099 
      10        8.58       8.81      0.0194 
      12       14.83      15.22      0.0335 
      14       23.55      24.17      0.0533 
      16       35.15      36.07      0.0795 
      18       50.04      51.36      0.1132 
      20       68.65      70.45      0.1553 
      22       91.37      93.77      0.2067 

Dia. Ft.  Vol. l     Lift gr.    Lift Lbs.

   1      14.83       15.2        0.03 
   2     118.62      121.7        0.27 
   3     400.34      410.9        0.91 
   4     948.96      973.9        2.15 
   5    1853.45     1902.2        4.19 
   6    3202.76     3287.0        7.25 
   7    5085.86     5219.7       11.51 
   8    7591.72     7791.5       17.18 
   9   10809.30    11093.7       24.46 
  10   14827.58    15217.7       33.55 
  11   19735.50    20254.8       44.65 
  12   25622.05    26296.2       57.97 
  13   32576.18    33433.3       73.71 
  14   40686.87    41757.4       92.06 
  15   50043.07    51359.8      113.23 
  16   60733.75    62331.8      137.42 
  17   72847.88    74764.7      164.83 
  18   86474.42    88749.8      195.66 
  19   101702.34   104378       230.12 
  20   118620.61   121741       268.40 
  21   137318.18   140931       310.70 
  22   157884.03   162038       357.24 
  23   180407.11   185154       408.20 
  24   204976.41   210369       463.79