May 2023 Archives
Surveying for Safety at Waipio Valley
Lush vegetation, beautiful ocean vistas, and a historic Hawaiian valley provide the setting for a complex engineering project that addresses technical and cultural concerns. The Waipio Valley on the island of Hawaii has great historical significance within Hawaiian culture. Known as the Valley of Kings, it was home to many generations of the royal family […]
The Advantages of “Built Here”
There are reasons other than policy and security to consider domestically produced drones. Yes, when it comes to the drone market there is an almost “default” choice. Having established dominance, it further benefits from price by volume. And then they can invest more in R&D from the increased profits—if they choose to and do not […]
Autonomous Drone Mapping
How interior spaces like mines are being scanned and imaged by a drone that works without a pilot or connectivity. There is a scene in the Ridley Scott-directed 2012 sci-fi thriller “Prometheus” where a deep space exploration crew lands on a planet and discovers an underground labyrinth. They lob a levitating orb down a tunnel, […]
How Green Is Your City?
As tree-planting efforts take root in cities around the world, urban managers turn to geospatial tools to map and monitor their community’s canopy cover. New Yorkers are fast walkers. But there are those who prefer to take it slow, like the group of well-trained volunteers who purposely roamed around the streets of the Big Apple, […]
Tracking the Paranormal
Mapping Your World Ever wonder where Bigfoot hangs out? What about where most UFOs fly by? Explore both with this per capita UFO and Bigfoot sightings map. The map by Kate Berg, which is featured in the 2023 GeoHipster calendar, cross references sightings of both by county. See what trends or patterns you glean from […]
A Decade of Uncrewed Photogrammetry
Some might have had a peek at photogrammetry drones before 2013, but for me 2023 marks a decade since I first laid eyes on an uncrewed aircraft that “claimed” to do what I had been doing for years in bigger, more stable airplanes in the joyful company of pilots, copilots, camera operators, and navigators. In […]