God; we need some up-to-date aerial shots ... badly. Thinking of just going out there and taking some myself. Anyone know how much a microlight costs to hire?
OpenStreetMap
God; we need some up-to-date aerial shots ... badly. Thinking of just going out there and taking some myself. Anyone know how much a microlight costs to hire?
Discussion
Comment from chillly on 20 October 2009 at 21:26
To fly a microlight in Europe you need a private pilot's licence. Anyone who holds a PPL cannot fly for hire or reward (you need a commercial pilot's licence for that). A microlight is not a commercial aircraft, so cannot be hired (the only exception is a flying club hiring a microlight out to a student pilot to learn to fly). Flying regulations are quite different to, say, motor vehicles. You might find someone who will fly you around to take photos. Microlights make good photo platforms for a small area, but not over cities. There are strict rules that effectively restrict microlights from flying over large built-up areas because of needing to be able to glide to safety if the engine fails.
Comment from Kevin Steinhardt on 20 October 2009 at 21:31
Guess we'll have to wait for another company to be nice and licence their photos appropriately.
Comment from Baloo Uriza on 20 October 2009 at 22:24
Note that in many parts of the world, far better aerial data is publicly available. Check with your various local, regional and national authorities to see if this data is available.
If you're lucky enough to live in Oregon, most cities, and almost all counties, the state itself and the US government are all subject to various "Sunshine" and "Freedom of Information" laws (depending on the era in which they were passed), which means that you already paid for the data to be collected and thus get free access to the same.
Comment from JohnSmith on 21 October 2009 at 03:36
Instead of real aircraft you could look into small UAV drones, you can fly these up to 400ft in most places without special permission, there is someone selling them in Europe pre-built pre-tested for about 999 euros...
Comment from davidearl on 21 October 2009 at 13:24
Peter Miller organised some for Stratford-upon-Avon recently: have a look at the mailing list archives.
Comment from robert on 22 October 2009 at 00:38
According to Mikel Maron, you can probably buy derivation rights to the pro aerial photography for $12 per sq km.
Recently a few people did try doing their own photos over stratford-upon-avon by buying a sightseeing trip. The real issue ended up being the rectification and stitching of the photos. It still hasn't been done properly.
Comment from Kevin Steinhardt on 28 October 2009 at 17:09
How about my village? I can surely get someone to take me over my village to get shots; we've even got a nice aerodrome to take off and land. They might even have one in the hangar. This all sounds very expensive; I think I'll just get a higher-res GPS. Getting a bit sick of 19 m accuracy, to be honest.