Digital aerial imaging has many advantages over conventional aerial photography.

• Since the digital images are recorded directly to a hard drive, the data does not need to be sent to a processing facility to create the image.

• With GPSI digital aerial images, you don't need to digitize any aerial photographs in order to manipulate them using GIS software. Our digital geo-referenced data is easily importable into most GIS programs.

• Reproduction of GPSI digital aerial images is as quick as turning on a printer and printing it at your desk. No waiting for your images to return from the photo lab. No hefty reproduction fees. Produce as many or as few images as you need.

• Currently, there are only a few places in the United States capable of processing color infra-red film. With digital aerial imaging, you can produce printable color infra-red pictures from your own computer.

• Since conventional aerial photography provides "pictures", not "data", the accuracy of area and distance calculations is compromised. Our digital aerial images provide "digital data".

  Unlike regular aerial photos, GPSI's digital aerial images contain GPS data coordinates. This allows accurate location of features of interest on the ground in even the most remote locations. Images may also be geo-rectified; this scale-corrects the images to true ground measurements. This greatly increases the accuracy of distance and area measurements. Also, geo-referencing allows you to make year-to-year comparisons without going through tedious image registration procedures.

• Another advantage of having "digital data" over just "pictures" is the flexibility it introduces in dealing with color. The digital data provided by GPSI's aerial images allows users to add value to the images through the processes of data manipulation and interpretation. Color bands can be combined to make true color and color infra-red images. Color bands can be combined and data can be analyzed using indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), providing insightful information about matters such as plant health.

• Standard aerial imagery is subject to "color shifts" as a result of film variations, differing processing routines (e.g., most people getting family photos back from a lab have noticed that sometimes flesh tones appear more red or more green than "normal" - this is due to slight variations in processing chemical makeup), and aging of the negative and positive print over time (photos tend to become more orange with aging). Our data is digital, so the resulting image is not subject to qualitative shifts over time. Our images are also standardized (calibrated) so that there is no variance in color values between pictures.

  For an example of "color shift", visit our Conventional Aerial Photography vs. Digital Aerial Imaging - Can You See the Difference? page.

• Digital aerial image storage requirements are minimal in comparison to the vast amounts of file drawer space required for paper prints. The data for dozens of images can be stored on one CD-ROM (approximately 50 per CD).

Please select any of the above links for more information, or email us about performing a custom flight for you.


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