DRONE-AND-TELL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) uses drone aerial imagery to inform several environmental projects around the Swinomish Reservation. Drones can be used to capture miles of land in minutes and provide an encompassing perspective in far less time than ground surveys and photo points. DEP’s largest ongoing drone-captured imagery project is to assess the effects of the recent tombolo restoration completed at Kukutali Preserve in August 2018. Staff monitor the physical changes occurring at the Kukutali restoration area by utilizing the drone to capture aerial imagery on an approximately monthly basis.DEP staff are interested in tracking driftwood, elevation, and geomorphic changes post-restoration. Ground control points with known measured elevations are set up prior to flying the drone in order to establish an elevation gradient and to track changes in elevation over time. In addition, staff lay out ground control targets, track them via Global Positioning System (GPS), and use them in the processed mosaic. Images are run through software called AgiSoft after they are taken. These images show the ground control targets, and since the targets have accurate GPS coordinates, staff are able to locate where each target is in space. 3-D models are built using those data and mosaicked images. The 3-D models are then used to track post-restoration changes.
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