Lab 8: Spatial Video and Geotagged Photos
Introduction/Background
Lab 8 was an introduction to using spatial videos and geotagged photos from GPS cameras for map making. The field work was conducted on campus where I participated in target video recording with one other student.
Methods
First, my partner and I decided on using the University Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Little Niagara Creek as our target data. We acquired Professor Rahman's personal spatial camera and started our recording at the creek outside of Phillips Science Hall. My partner held the camera as we walked the length of the Little Niagara Creek, recording the creek until we reached the Chippewa River. On the way back we discussed potential uses of the spatial video and recalled noticing different populations of ducks, storm sewer drains, and garbage as potential attributes.
Once we reached the classroom, we started to upload our video. We had to convert our video using Professor Rahman's personal laptop because the school computers did not have the particular camera's software downloaded. We managed to convert the video and upload it to VIRB where we could watch our progress along the stream alongside a map which held our position as a GPS point. In this way, when we noticed data we could acquire exact points from the map while confirming data on the video.
While watching our video and noting data, we converted our GPS tracked route from VIRB to Google Earth Pro where our route was then transferred as a polygon shapefile. I uploaded this shapefile to ArcMap, created a "feature" for Ducks, Storm Sewers, and Garbage, and began to edit my map. I managed to add the three different types of data of which I determined would be efficient for two different maps. The first map I used to display duck population along the river by showing the three different populations and number of ducks within the population. This lead me to create the following:
For the second map, I decided to combine storm sewers with noted garbage after noticing some data points typically resided close to each other.
Both of these maps can be utilized in different manners. If we wanted to know more about the duck populations on Little Niagara, it would be important to keep records of which individuals tend to stick to a population, where they feed, what they are eating, and how often they integrate with each other. The storm drain and garbage maps are also useful in that they can potentially declare areas as likely places for garbage/debris pile up. Storm drain location is also important in order to ensure they are cleared from blockage.
Discussion/Challenges
Part of this lab required us to geotag photos to display within our maps. Unfortunately, our spatial video device would only allow us to use one mode or the other at one time. This lead us to continue recording on our spatial video device while we took pictures with our phones. We thought, since iPhones tag pictures with coordinate location, that these photos would suffice for the geotag tool in ArcMap. We discovered this wasn't the case. Our photos could not be matched, and I was not able to tag photos with corresponding data in my two maps.
During the video upload, I discovered that a spatial video device would not be a good tool if video quality is poor. Our data depended on the quality of the video being sharp and accurate. Our data also depended on our use of the device, for example, we had to keep in mind where we were holding and pointing the camera.
Conclusion
Spatial video and geotagged photos are both useful and important tools, but surveying methods should be kept in mind while using spatial video. By manually keeping track of potential data points, I would have saved time in making my map. That being said, spatial video is a time consuming method considering you must watch the entirety of the video in order to achieve meaningful and worthy results. Thinking back to a spatial video Professor Rahman took of a Rohingya refugee camp, there are a lot of different points of view and different types of data one could receive and display from such a busy and interesting video. Spatial video proves even more effective as one can always look back and display different data by analyzing a video from other perspectives.
Story map: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/713b41c9130946b0ba768afe933ce5d6
Lab 8 was an introduction to using spatial videos and geotagged photos from GPS cameras for map making. The field work was conducted on campus where I participated in target video recording with one other student.
Methods
First, my partner and I decided on using the University Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Little Niagara Creek as our target data. We acquired Professor Rahman's personal spatial camera and started our recording at the creek outside of Phillips Science Hall. My partner held the camera as we walked the length of the Little Niagara Creek, recording the creek until we reached the Chippewa River. On the way back we discussed potential uses of the spatial video and recalled noticing different populations of ducks, storm sewer drains, and garbage as potential attributes.
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| A Garmin VIRB Elite Action Camera used for spatial video recording. |
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| One of the three duck populations on Little Niagara. |
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| A skittle bag found near a storm drain. |
 |
| One of the storm drains featured along Little Niagara. |
While watching our video and noting data, we converted our GPS tracked route from VIRB to Google Earth Pro where our route was then transferred as a polygon shapefile. I uploaded this shapefile to ArcMap, created a "feature" for Ducks, Storm Sewers, and Garbage, and began to edit my map. I managed to add the three different types of data of which I determined would be efficient for two different maps. The first map I used to display duck population along the river by showing the three different populations and number of ducks within the population. This lead me to create the following:
 |
| A final map displaying three different duck populations, including the duck abundance within each population along the Little Niagara. |
For the second map, I decided to combine storm sewers with noted garbage after noticing some data points typically resided close to each other.
 |
| A final map showing storm drain location and garbage sites along the Little Niagara Stream. |
Both of these maps can be utilized in different manners. If we wanted to know more about the duck populations on Little Niagara, it would be important to keep records of which individuals tend to stick to a population, where they feed, what they are eating, and how often they integrate with each other. The storm drain and garbage maps are also useful in that they can potentially declare areas as likely places for garbage/debris pile up. Storm drain location is also important in order to ensure they are cleared from blockage.
Discussion/Challenges
Part of this lab required us to geotag photos to display within our maps. Unfortunately, our spatial video device would only allow us to use one mode or the other at one time. This lead us to continue recording on our spatial video device while we took pictures with our phones. We thought, since iPhones tag pictures with coordinate location, that these photos would suffice for the geotag tool in ArcMap. We discovered this wasn't the case. Our photos could not be matched, and I was not able to tag photos with corresponding data in my two maps.
During the video upload, I discovered that a spatial video device would not be a good tool if video quality is poor. Our data depended on the quality of the video being sharp and accurate. Our data also depended on our use of the device, for example, we had to keep in mind where we were holding and pointing the camera.
Conclusion
Spatial video and geotagged photos are both useful and important tools, but surveying methods should be kept in mind while using spatial video. By manually keeping track of potential data points, I would have saved time in making my map. That being said, spatial video is a time consuming method considering you must watch the entirety of the video in order to achieve meaningful and worthy results. Thinking back to a spatial video Professor Rahman took of a Rohingya refugee camp, there are a lot of different points of view and different types of data one could receive and display from such a busy and interesting video. Spatial video proves even more effective as one can always look back and display different data by analyzing a video from other perspectives.
Story map: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/713b41c9130946b0ba768afe933ce5d6
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