3D Earthquake Mapping

Engineers and architects can learn a lot about how to make buildings and other structures more earthquake proof by studying the devastation caused by earthquakes. However in the immediate aftermath of a disastrous earthquake rescue efforts and then clean-up & restoration projects obviously are of far more importance. This gives engineers a very short time-span in which to study how buildings have fared during a major earthquake.

Scientists at Brigham Young University are therefore working on how drones can be quickly deployed to capture aerial imagery of earthquake hit locations. Using structure from motion (SfM) computer vision, this drone footage can be used to create 3d maps. The completed 3d maps can then bu used by civil engineers to study the impact of an earthquake on ancient and modern infrastructure.

After a 6.2 magnitude quake hit central Italy earlier this year Brigham Young University deployed their drones to capture video footage of the damage caused to towns and villages in the area. They are now creating 3d models from this footage, You can view the completed 3d map of earthquake devastated Pescara del Tronto.

You can also read more about this important mapping project and find links to the preliminary report of the project's findings on the Brigham Young University website.

Sky View

Hivemapper are developing a beautiful interface for exploring drone captured videos from a 3d map. Using a 3d map allows users to explore drone videos by specific location. Instead of having to scrub through a whole drone video searching for the footage of the location you wish to view with 'Flight View' you can just click on the map to find the relevant part of the video.

Hivemapper Flight View presents you with a 3d point cloud map of a location. You can navigate around the 3d map to find a location that you wish to explore in Flight View. When you click on your chosen location the 3d map seamlessly changes to present the same view as captured on video by drone.

Hivemapper's 3d point cloud maps are created using data actually captured from the frames of the drone videos of that location. You can view Flight View in action on the Hivemapper demo map of Cathedral Hill in San Francisco. Check-out how the map magically switches from point cloud map to video when you click on the map.

You can learn more about Hivemapper and their development of Flight View on the Hivemapper Blog.

Open Aerial Imagery

The OpenAerialMap has been reborn. Between November 2007 and December 2008 OpenAerialMap provided a collection of open-sourced aerial imagery. Unfortunately some problems with hosting and licensing caused the first iteration of OpenAerialMap to close in 2008.

Now however Humanitarian OSM Team (HOT) has restarted the OpenAerialMap project. OpenAerialMap will provide a central repository for imagery from satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft. At the moment the map is a little sparse. There is quite a bit of aerial imagery in and around Kathmandu. If you search for Finland and zoom in on Helsinki you might be able to find a few more open aerial images.

Hopefully the huge growth in drone mapping in the last few years means that the time for a collection of open aerial imagery is here and HOT will be able to make a success of the new reborn OpenAerialMap.

Video Playback on a Map

I've been playing almost non-stop with the new Mapbox GL since its release yesterday. The API is packed full of awesome features and functions. One of the most impressive features is the ability to add a video as an overlay on a base map.

Mapbox has just added a great demo (and the code) of this feature to their example maps in the Mapbox GL documentation. The video was captured by a drone on a northern Californian beach. You can also see the map in full-screen here.

You can zoom in and out on the map and the video automatically re-sizes with the map. You can also rotate the map and video (if you are on a desktop try a right mouse button click followed by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the map).

The Drone Crash Map

Don't Fly Drones Here is a Mapbox map of drone no-fly zones in the United States. Areas in the US with drone flight restrictions, commonly in and around major airports, military bases and national parks, are displayed on the the map in red.

If you know of a drone no-fly zone missing from the map you can submit a ticket to the Don't Fly Drones Here map repository on GitHub and it will be added to the map. All the no-fly area data displayed on the map is also avaialble as open data under a CC-0 license.


The increasing popularity of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles has resulted in dozens of drone crashes across the US. Domestic Drone Accidents maps these domestic drone crashes in the United States.

The Domestic Drone Accidents map plots the locations of reported drone accidents. The map also provides information on the date of each crash, the drone operator, the type of UAV involved and a description of the crash.

You might also like this A Map of the Drones post showcasing a number of other drone related mapping projects and maps.

Humanitarian Drone Mapping

It's hard to get away from drone mapping at the moment. Last week on Google Maps Mania we featured four different drone related mapping projects:

Drone Adventures - a non-profit organization designed to promote the potential of drones in conservation and humanitarian work
MapKnitter - a free and open source tool for aligning and creating maps from drone and other overhead captured images
Dronestagram - an Instagram type website for sharing aerial photos captured by drones
TravelByDrone - a map of video footage taken by drones around the world

The Humanitarian UAV Network is another map collecting drone shot video footage from around the world. The aim of the Humanitarian UAV Network is to provide a platform for the sharing and collaboration of humanitarian uses of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).

Part of this platform is a global map of UAV captured video, taken at disaster sites around the world. The map includes aerial shot videos taken at the sites of landslides, floods, building collapses, typhoons and other natural and man made disasters.

A Map of the Drones

Drone Adventures is a non-profit organization designed to promote the potential of drones in conservation, humanitarian work and in search and rescue operations. The organization helps to connect drone operators with people in need of up to the minute aerial imagery.

The Drone Adventures website includes details on projects where aerial imagery captured by drones has been able to help provide up-to-date ground maps. For example, Mapping the Philippines After Typhoon Haiyan, which includes a MapBox map of the captured drone imagery. The imagery and map was then used to carry out damage assessments, identify safe land for relocations and to take stock of recovery efforts.


If you ever get around to buying your own drone then you might find MapKnitter useful. MapKnitter is a free and open source tool for aligning and creating maps from overhead images.

The tool allows anyone to take a single aerial image or a series of aerial images and align them, with the help of Google Maps satellite view. Images maps created with MapKnitter can be exported in GeoTiff, TMS/OpenLayers, and JPG formats.

You can explore maps created with the tool by location and the most recent maps are also featured on the home page of MapKnitter.


Dronestagram is an Instagram type application for sharing aerial photos captured by drones. Users can post aerial pictures to Dronestagram and share their photos with the world.

Browsing Dronestagram is a fun way of exploring aerial views of the world. Each photo posted to Dronestagram is accompanied by a Google Map showing where the picture was taken.

If you prefer drone videos to drone photos then TravelByDrone is your best bet. TravelByDrone is a really interesting Google Map of video footage taken by drones around the world. The map includes some fascinating aerial video footage captured by people using drones equipped with video cameras.

Many of the videos featured on the map are of a very high quality and provide a unique aerial view of locations around the world. TravelByDrone already features a lot of drone captured videos. It also includes an option to submit a drone video to the map so TravelByDrone should become a great central repository of aerial videos shot by unmanned drones.