GPS World

Tag: drone imagery

  • New Soar platform gives public real-time views of world events

    New Soar platform gives public real-time views of world events

    Chicago freeze. (Photo: Soar)
    Chicago freeze. (Photo: Soar)

    Satellite imagery company Soar is now allowing public access to its satellites that provide near-real time imagery all across Earth at 10-meter resolution per pixel.

    Both the public and the media will now be able to see high-definition aerial views of anywhere on Earth to observe events as they happen. This includes but is not limited to environmental disasters such as wildfires, tsunamis, hurricanes and drought.

    Governments will also be able to monitor activities such as the protests in Hong Kong, or illegal mining or deforestation.

    Developed by geospatial experts, the map sources satellite images from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel, NASA’s Landsat feeds and the SuperView and Gaofen satellites.

    As well as satellite content, the super-map will integrate imagery sourced from drone owners (drone pilots) around the world, who can earn passive income as the value of their imagery becomes realized. They can thus become a one-stop-shop for the collection, distribution, and monetization of mapping imagery from different sensors.

    “The problem Soar is solving is that almost 80 percent of all mapping imagery is currently accessed through just one channel, which is, for the most part, reserved mostly for niche commercial use,” said Soar founder and CEO Amir Farhand. “In many cases, the general public only has access to resources that are not updated as frequently. Soar addresses these limitations by generating dynamic, ever-changing data on our platform.”

    “Imagery taken by a drone user can be uploaded to social media, and may attract a few likes, or will sit idle on a hard drive,” Farhand said. “The same image uploaded to Soar contributes content to the seeding of the super-map, providing value to a global community, as well as generating income for the drone pilot.”

    Soar’s Head of Growth, Tim Glover added, “Imagine if we could re-use that imagery in a way that was totally authentic, collaborative and most importantly, accessible to all. Soar allows anyone to view the Earth from above, meaning it’s easy to observe things like environmental changes, including drought, melting ice caps, industrial growth, natural disasters like volcano eruptions, just to name a few uses. The aim of Soar is to enable anyone to explore and discover our ever-changing world.”

    With almost 10 petabytes of data already acquired, Soar is planning additional imagery as part of their growth strategy. Soar has already received several partnership requests from multinational organizations with excess satellite, aerial and drone content from across the globe.

    In the near future, the platform will also feature additional data streams from higher resolution satellites, aerial imagery providers and both commercial and recreational drone operators globally.

    The use of Soar is suitable for a wide range of industries and applications including agriculture, environmental, logistics, mining and insurance. However, since its beta launch in late 2018, the largest area of growth has been news and social media as users share imagery of landscape events from around the world.

    Soar was founded in 2017 by Amir Farhand, an entrepreneur with more than 15 years of geospatial expertise. The Soar leadership team is headed by Chairman Guy Perkins, former co-founder of aerial imaging companies NearMap and Spookfish. Other key managers come from a wide range of industry sectors with varying backgrounds, including the Australian Special Forces, United States Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Rio Tinto, NBCUniversal and Amblin Entertainment.

    To view Soar’s platform, visit soar.earth

  • XM2 drones play pivotal role in film industry

    XM2 drones play pivotal role in film industry

    When it comes to producing film imagery, it’s all about perspective.

    Picture this: You’re in a courtyard surrounded by four high-rise buildings, looking up. You’re tasked with flying a drone equipped with a movie camera between two of the buildings, and then up one of them.

    It’s a challenge, but perspective is critical when it comes to filming technology-focused movies like Pacific Rim: Uprising.

    High-resolution imagery has become a critical component for Hollywood film producers over the years, and drones have played a paramount role in offering unique viewpoints.

    More importantly, drones allow users to capture imagery that humans alone can’t produce.

    XM2's Aaron Corera discusses the company's drone imagery at Xponential 2019. (Photo: Allison Barwacz)
    XM2’s Aaron Corera discusses the company’s drone imagery at Xponential 2019. (Photo: Allison Barwacz)

    XM2, an aerial cinematography and photography company based in Melbourne, Australia, uses drones to capture this compelling imagery. The company has worked on a number of big-name projects, including Pacific Rim: Uprising, Thor: Ragnarok, Aquaman, season two of Westworld, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Star Wars: Episode IX.

    “Star Wars: Episode IX was certainly a big challenge,” said Aaron Corera, drone pilot and safety manager at XM2, at an education session at Xponential 2019. “It was a massive challenge logistically to get all of our equipment over there, and then in an environment where there’s very little infrastructure, essentially, to be able to do some high-pressure tasks. It’s just a matter of being well prepared, being switched on and working through a checklist to make sure every box is being ticked.”

    The company has manufactured a number of its own drones to meet the needs of its clients. One of its drones — the XM2 Sierra — is capable of carrying payloads up to 66 pounds.

    “It is designed to be able to carry cameras that traditionally aren’t drone-based cameras,” Corera said. “That aircraft can carry the same cameras that are being used for the ground-based shooting, and that’s a big advantage. Having all platforms using the cameras saves them time in post-production.”

    The company’s other house-manufactured drones include the Tango, Echo and Inspire Pro 2, which have been deployed over a number of the company’s projects.

    The work didn’t come immediately, though. The 14-person staff at XM2 has only been working in the film industry for about seven years, Corera said.

    “The work came in bits and pieces, and we gained momentum into it a little bit, then realized, ‘There’s a real opportunity here,’” he added.

    One of the biggest challenges the company has had to face is unfamiliarity with the products and what XM2 can offer.

    “I think one of the challenges includes familiarity, ultimately,” Corera said. “And that’s familiarity in the systems for the client and what it can and can’t do.”

    Because a lot of people aren’t familiar with drones and the legal requirements to fly them, XM2 has had to find alternatives for client requests, as well as educate and ensure the safety of the people working around them.

    “From the people management side of things, when we’re operating on a film set, it’s about coordination between the people that are involved in the shot itself and then the people that are managing the film set,” Corera said. “And then there will generally be on-set safety, as well. We’ll have a briefing in the morning, and explain what we’ve got planned for the day.

    “When it comes to a specific shot, we take it upon ourselves to know exactly where everyone is, exactly what they’re doing and where they’re going. We make sure everyone knows what the plan is and what to do in case something goes wrong. It’s a combination of technical safety protocols and people safety protocols.”

    Still, as technology evolves, the demand for high-resolution, drone imagery does, too. It’s all about perspective and, more importantly, capturing imagery from a viewpoint otherwise unseen.