Drone Imagery gives a point of view of an area that cannot be seen from a human’s normal point of view and is captured by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (otherwise known as drones) with cameras mounted to them. The application of drone imagery has become popular in several fields of study because of their ability to provide detailed visual information from angles and elevations that are difficult to achieve with traditional methods of image capture. Drones have been proven to be cost- effective and provide high quality imagery in a short time period.
For the NBS-ENGROSSED project, camera systems capturing beach data need to be situated on the coastline at a location that is not densely populated, has a good panoramic view of the coastline, and can also capture control points on the ground. For these reasons, capturing drone imagery of the entire beach will help us to determine the possible locations for these video cameras and ascertain the camera’s point of view, which will guide the selection of suitable control points.
At Pigeon Point Beach and the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort in Tobago, drone surveys were conducted to attain a nadir point of view of the beaches. The drone was elevated to different possible heights, and still images and video were taken to determine the view of potential elevations of the planned beach camera system. This will help us to determine the most ideal camera location which will enable us to maximize the camera’s view of the coastline and improve the overall quality of data collection.
