Hi, I’m in the planning stage of an ambitious project to create a website of high-resolution 3D maps of some of Colorado’s highest peaks: the 14ers. The 14ers are the 53 peaks, scattered around the state, with an elevation over 14,000’. The best maps currently available are the standard USGS topographic maps. These maps only give a general idea of the terrain and hikers, climbers, skiers, search and rescue teams and many others would benefit from having better maps of these peaks.
Here’s a good example of why this important. The USGS 1:24,000 map of Longs Peak (14,259') provides very little useful information to a hiker or climber who must navigate the same terrain shown in the photo. The contour interval is 40’, the height of a 4 story building, and there is no photographic information. A higher-resolution 3D map, of course, would provide much more detail.
The recent mapping of the Matterhorn (using drones by SenseFly) shows that high-quality (20cm resolution) maps can be produced with a small team and at relatively low cost. The devil, of course, is in the details and that’s why I’m here. I’d like to learn as much as possible and solicit advice from the group about how to generate similar maps of the Colorado 14ers. It certainly seems possible since the Matterhorn is roughly the same size as a 14er.
I’d like to produce and share a plan that compares both the SenseFly and DIY options. The 14ers present many challenges like high altitude, rough terrain, wind, lightning, storms, and cold, but if the project is feasible, I would like to launch a Kickstarter project with the goal of raising funds to begin mapping some of these beautiful peaks.
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Flying 14ers is certainly tricky. Only two people I know have have done it. I flew to the summit of Mount Bierstadt last summer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sihR-mdRq08), and a guy named Mike from Longmont has flown over Longs Peak a couple times (he's also lost a plane or two in earlier attempts). Others have flown in the high mountains in various places, but those are the only two 14ers I know to have been FPV'ed. Eventually I'd like to do a project to fly FPV up all of them, but that probably won't happen for a while.
I particularly like Aeromao's landing parachute as most 14ers have no suitable landing spot! Does anyone know if it works as advertised?
John Leipper: Thanks for the link to cesium's.org. I haven't seen that one and I will need to display the models in a browser.
Stephen Gienow: Thanks for the link to Aeromao. It looks like they have an X5 that's similar to the plane Sensefly uses, but uses APM. Pix4D is the software package used by Sensefly and I've heard lots of good things about Agisoft Photoscan.
Gerard Toonstra: Thanks for all the tips! Does anyone know if better support for elevated waypoints will be coming to APM? You're right about the lighting and dealing with areas of dark shadows; that could require careful flight planning. Also, most storms are in the late afternoon so I'll probably need to generally work from west to east. Maybe hit the north sides at noon! Good idea to partner with the parks and point out the value of the maps to their visitors. I plan to go the legitimate route and get whatever permits are necessary - I'd hate to spin up the project and then get shut down.
Flying Buddha: Thanks for the link to the FAA paper. I think you're right about the legal issues being the most difficult part! Except, of course, for climbing the 14ers!
Jim Turpin: Thanks for the offer. Let's get together when I get a bit further along.
Patrick McKay: Thanks! Let's get together when I get a bit further along - I have no experience with FPV and I can imagine that flying the 14ers would be wild experience.
Aren't there specific regulations on accepted noise levels or nuisances that these craft could produce? Basically saying that even if R/C aircraft aren't specifically prohibited, they are prohibited on the impact they have on the environment or public.?
There are no general laws or regulations against flying RC aircraft in national parks or national forests. Some specific national parks ban RC aircraft in their individual regulation compilations. As far as I've been able to determine, none of that national parks in Colorado ban RC aircraft (state parks, on the other hand, all ban RC aircraft except at designated RC airfields). That doesn't mean rangers won't harass you though if they see you flying in a national park. There has also been some discussion among Colorado FPVers as to whether an RC plane would be covered under prohibitions on "motorized vehicles" in wilderness areas. Personally I think that would probably only apply to ground vehicles, but I haven't researched the issue extensively.
So legally, I think you would be fine. The biggest challenges will be practical. From my own flights in the mountains, I've come to the conclusion that the Rockies are far windier than the Alps with much more variable weather. In the summer you'll need to conduct all flights in the morning to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. Finding suitable launch locations clear of trees and close enough to the mountain will also be a challenge.
Best of luck with the project! If you need any help from other Colorado FPVers, let me know.
I think flying buddha is correct. Legalisties are going to be the hardest part.
I live in Boulder and would love to help. I've got a background in multirotors and a computer infrastructure guy by day.
It does seem like an awesome project, if I lived in your area I would love to help.
The Department of Interior just released this last week in reguards to it's use of UAVs - http://oas.doi.gov/library/mou/IB14-03_DOI_FAA.pdf. There has been alot of discussion on the legalities of flying UAV/R/C aircraft in the National Parks too. I think your biggest hurdle is going to be dealing with current (or lack of) laws and regulations.
In your missions you need to plan for the elevation difference. If you execute this with APM, you should manually elevate waypoints as it travels uphill. At the moment these are usually all at the same altitude. The point of the sensefly matterhorn project was to demonstrate it could do this planning with a lot more ease, as well as the sheer volume of data that was to be processed.
You also want to plan the right time of day to execute the flight on the particular slope of the mountain because of shadows. If you get the shadow side then your exposure reduces and you run more risk of losing a couple of photos. Look at the matterhorn result to see how shadow affects the quality and look of the moutain.
I'm guessing that if it's a national park the rangers will go out of their mind when you fly your vehicles around. Maybe they won't catch you the first time, but you need to make various attempts. I'd definitely check with them and bring them in as partners instead. So instead of asking "permission", find a way where your work attributes value to their interests as well.
A few good resources to check out:
Aeromao has a robust plane which may suit your needs. They will also consult with you about tailoring a plane for your mission, so check em' out if you're interested.
Pix4D is a program for photogrammetry. I've never tried it, but it looks nice. I use Agisoft Photoscan, which you may also want to consider.
As you capture the imagery, and convert it to terrain and raster data, a mapping framework which may prove useful to you is the AGI Cesium globe (cesiumjs.org). This would give you something to deliver the 14ers data to your users via web browsers.
They use virtualearth (bing) data under the hood, but you can insert your own geospatially-referenced data fairly easily.
Capturing the data sounds like a challenge.. but fun :)
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