LIDAR!

Image Classification

Supervised

Unsupervised

Image Rectification

Image Rectification allows an image to be shown in X Y coordinates and matched to a specific location on a map. It is important when rectifying an image that an analyst use as many GCP points as neccessary to produce a low RMS error, if not enough GCP points are used and the RMS error is high, this will most likely result in image distortion and incorrect placement of features.

Thermal Imagery

In this image, the asphalt roads, sidewalks, and patios absorb heat throughout the day and continue to radiate heat into the evening and morning hours when the surrounding areas cool off, therefore they appear lighter in color. Vegetation appears dark because it cools off in the evening hours. Storage sheds, and cars appear darker due to the fact that they are made of materials that cool down. With the exception of cars with a lighter spot in the front, this occurs due to the heat of the engine under the hood. Bright spots that appear on the rooftops of homes can be caused by possible heating units for the home, or steam vents on the roof.

Multispectral vs Panchromatic

Some of the differences I can see between the panchromatic and multispectral images is the difference in resolution, the panchromatic image has a higher resolution and the image is also a lot clearer, making it easier to make out specific features. Another obvious difference is the color, the panchromatic image is in grey scale while the multispectral shows 3 different color bands. The high amounts of red coloring in the multispectral image shows that there is a high concentration of vegetation along the coastal areas, and also in the water.

Natural vs Color Infrared imagery

CIR imagery can be difficult to interpret mainly because the colors are unnatural to us relative to what we see normally. In some cases it is exactly opposite of what we are used to, and this makes typical areas more difficult to identify. But there is also an advantage to CIR imagery, it allows us to identify features we could not normally see with the naked eye. This is advantageous to identifying vegetation and also in determining the health of vegetation.

Google map of potential wind farm

This location approximately 10 miles off the coast of Muskegon, near Snug Harbor and Muskegon Lake, would be a good spot for an offshore wind farm. This area receives a daily average wind speed of 11.5 miles or 10 knots, making it a pretty good choice. Due to the fact that this would be an offshore wind farm, noise and shadow flicker would have little to no impact on local residents. This site would only affect local boaters and smaller vessels, since the east coast of Lake Michigan does not contain any major shipping routes. Migratory birds will most likely not be an issue, while they are common to this area, there does not appear to be any major migratory routes near the east coast of Lake Michigan. According to The American Wind Energy Association, http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets.html Avian studies have been carried out at many wind farm sites, they show that bird kills per megawatt (MW), average one to six per year or less. These studies included sites passed by millions of migrating birds each year.