Building a map with UAS data

Introduction

Why are proper cartographic skills essential in working with UAS data?
Proper cartographic skills are essential to working with UAS data because to convey what information you’re looking at and why it’s important to a client is necessary information to convey.

What are the fundamentals of turning either a drawing or an aerial image into a map?
Some important things to include in a new map are directional arrows, a scale of distance, an overview map of the general area, a watermark to mark it as your map, and the metadata like what kinds of sensors you used or who the pilot was.

What can spatial patterns of data tell the reader about UAS data? Provide several examples.
Spatial patterns of data can tell the reader extra information about UAS data. It can be easier to see patterns in the data and relationships in the data that would otherwise be more difficult to discern without a spatial reference.

What are the objectives of the lab?
The objectives of this lab are to introduce us to the concept of cartography when working with UAS data. Creating functional maps in ArcMap and having all of the right components in a map.

Lab Assignment

The main part of this lab was building a map but before that we further familiarized ourselves with the ArcMap and ArcScene programs.

Working with the Data

What key characteristics should go into folder and file naming conventions
The folder and file name should include key information like what kinds of sensors were used, what date the data was gathered, and where the data was gathered.

Why is file management so key in working with UAS data
File management is important in UAS data because other people will probably have to access your data even when you’re not there and if the files are properly managed then it should be easier for them to find what they need.

What key forms of metadata should be associated with every UAS mission
Some key information to be included is the date the data was collected, platform flown, sensor used, altitude flown, ground control GPS system, ground control coordinate system used, and who piloted the UAS.

Create a table that provides the key metadata for the data you are working with

Date:	6/13/17
UAS Platform:	M600 Pro
Sensor:	Zenmuse X5
Altitude Flown:	70m
Ground Control GPS:	Trimble UX5
Ground Control Coordinates:	WGS84 UTM Zone 16
UAS Coordinates:	WGS 84 DD
Pilot:	Peter Menet

ArcMap

What basemap did you use? Why?

I used the World Light Grey Canvas basemap. I used this one because the light background makes text, watermarks, and keys easier to make stand out while you can also see notable features like state borders and bodies of water.

What is the difference between a DSM and DEM?

A DSM is a digital surface model and a DEM is a digital elevation model.  A DSM captures man made objects and other non-earth structures.  A DEM will only capture the contours of the earth and filters out other objects like trees, buildings, or light poles.

Go into the Properties for the DSM and record the following descriptive statistics.

Cell Size:	0.02077, 0.02077
Units:	Meter
Projection:	WGS_1984_UTM_Zone_16N
High Elevation:	323.08865356445
Low Elevation:	281.04708862305

Why are these statistics important?

These are important because they are necessary for actually reading the data and give a general overview on what you are looking at.

Generate a Hillshade for the DSM. Then set the original DSM to a color ramp of your choice and set its transparency to your choice over the shaded DSM. 

Figure 1 shows a red-green color ramp with a 50% transparency for the DSM.

Figure 1: Original DSM color ramp with transparent shaded DSM

What does hillshading do towards being able to visualize relief and topography.

Hillshading makes it easier to visualize relief and topography because there are shadows. It's just easier to see.

Use the swipe tool to compare what you see in the orthomosaic to the DSM.

Figure 2 shows what the swipe tool does. This picture has the swipe halfway through.

Figure 2: Swipe Tool

How does the orthomosaic relate to what you see in the shaded relief of the DSM You can see where there are changes in the terrain and where there is actually just a bunch of trees.

ArcScene

Now add relief by setting the base heights to the elevation value. If needed, zoom to the layer again and adjust the vertical exaggeration.
Figure 3 shows the relief based on elevation values.

Figure 3: Relief based on elevation value

What is the purpose of vertical exaggeration? What settings do you have for your data? The purpose of vertical exaggeration is to more easily display changes in elevation especially if the actual changes are very small. I don't have any vertical exaggeration because I didn't see the need to, the changes in elevation are easy enough to see in this data.

Figure 4: Added color ramp

What color ramp did you use? Why? I used a color ramp where low elevation was green and high elevation was red. It seems like the typical way that elevation is displayed and I didn’t want to try to mess with the viewer’s expectations.

What are the advantages of using ArcScene to view UAS DSM data vs. the overhead shaded relief in ArcMap. What are the disadvantages? The advantages are that it is much easier to visualize the 3D world in a 3D program. The major disadvantage is that the 3D rendering is imperfect and will not always display exactly what is actually there.
Find a zoom setting and angle you like in ArcScene and export the image as a jpeg or file of your choice. See: Figure 5

Figure 5: Exported ArcScene

Is this export a map? Why or why not? This is not a map because it lack many aspects of a map like a scale and a key.

Building a Map

Required map criteria:

• Data sources and metadata (sensor, altitude, UAS platform, pilot)
• North Arrow
• Scale Bar
• Locator Map
• Watermark

As shown in Figure 6 below, I have included my map. In making my map I tried to include everything listed here in a way that would not clutter the space or confuse the reader. You may notice that my export picture from ArcScene is different from the one above. In the one above I did not have rendering on so it looked very bright. Overall, I think it looks pretty nice but there is always room for improvement. 

Figure 6: Map

Conclusions:

Summarize what makes UAS data useful as a tool to the cartographer and GIS user

UAS data as a tool for a cartographer is useful because not only does it include important information about the collected data, such as elevation or sensor used, but it also provides a very detailed view of an area which can be used in a map. To a GIS user UAS data can be very useful as well. Besides the things mentioned above for cartographers, a GIS user could also use UAS data in a wide variety of ways depending on what sensors are used.

What limitations does the data have? What should the user know about the data when working with it.

The data is limited by what was collected. Maybe it was collected from too high and the picture isn't detailed enough or the right sensor wasn't used and the data is useless from the user's perspective. A prospective user should always know what kind of data they are working with and important bits of metadata.

Speculate what other forms of data this data could be combined with to make it even more useful.

This data could be combined with something like data from a heat sensor to find inefficiencies in solar panels, map out a geyser field, or find hot spots in volcanoes.