technical: May 2009 Archives

Well, we've just about finished the last day. For scheduling reasons we swapped Field Day 5 with the free day, so yesterday the group spent their field day with a boat trip along Cano Negro. The students are posting their comments, but this year we saw quite a few good views of unusual birds, Caimens, and all three types of monkey (howler, white faced, spider). This was followed with an hour in La Fortuna, and some time at the reserve that Giovanni is managing.

Here is a photo of the students on the boat trip (from left: Nick, Aliza, Kathryn, Natalia):



Today, the final field day, has been a day of tidying things up. We retrieved the last HOBOs (automated water temperature samplers), and both Aliza and Nick have been collecting their last field data. I've also converted the Trimble data into a form that can be used by Aliza and Nick in their write-ups. I've created a new map with bird nest locations. The plan is to add bird nest locations each year as their own layers, so it should be possible to compare the number of bird nests over time. Marcy reports that there are a lot more bird nests this year than in the 2008 field season. This is good news. An intermediate version of the map should be online before we leave Leaves and Lizards. Aliza is preparing a set of photographs for each bird nest point. I shall publish these later in the week after we return. I'll post a note when these are completed.

We re-shot two of the panoramas this morning, and I've been working on data processing. Although there hasn't been any careful alignment with 2008's photos yet, we have two of of the 2009 panoramic photos up:

• Bird Point C
• Bird Point D

(the new panoramic photo view requires the Silverlight 2 plugin installing)

As you can see, the growth around Bird Point C is quite amazing. Look at the teak saplings in the distance, and the cabins (in 2008).

I should have all of the panoramic photos processed by tomorrow, and then I'll start aligning them. First impressions are that alignment is not as critical as I was fearing. (I am also starting to experiment with PhotoSynth - more news when I have something to show)

In other news, this has been quite an adventurous day but everyone else has covered that. The main message is that parents should not be worried!

(oh and there was a small explosion, well really a burp, from Arenal - unusual in that I was actually watching and saw it before the sound reached us)

Mainly technical news from me today. This morning, Microsoft added a "Content Delivery Network" to their Virtual Earth maps. I've already updated the EcoMap Costa Rica maps to use this. The changes aren't noticeable here in Texas, but should be quicker for other parts of the world (Microsoft claim up to 80% faster).  Of course we have been using our own "Content Delivery Network" since April for the ASTER satellite image and the aerial photograph, so Microsoft are a bit slow in this department!!    (we are using Amazon's CloudFront service for these aerial photos, and the larger downloads such as student reports and the panoramic photos)

I've dusted off the camera attachments to take the panoramic photos. We will use the same procedure as before: Taking 16 photographs at 30deg intervals using a Panosaurus panoramic head, and a Canon EOS with 20mm lens.

This year we have the comparison tool (which I see Katheryn mentioned yesterday) that allows us to fade from one image to another. A big problem is going to be image alignment. Last year's images were marked with the "North" direction, so lateral alignment should be straightforward. Vertical (azimuth) alignment will be more difficult. Also we are going to have to be careful to choose the exact same spots. We have the coordinates (good to 6m), our memories, and printouts of last year's photos.

For the photography, I am also going to try Microsoft PhotoSynth. This is a sort of pseudo 3d photo technology. Here is an example of our back yard. It takes a bit of practice, and the back yard example could be done better. We may have a lot of trouble with the forest. PhotoSynth does not work well with lots of similar objects - so teak plantations are probably not going to work. I also suspect loreals are going to give trouble. However we could try creating a PhotoSynth for specific areas such as around the cabins, or around the main house. The limited back yard example took over 100 photos. Are there any snap-happy students who would like to help?

The new implementation of the Virtual Earth map that uses the MapCruncher-produced satellite image and aerial photograph, is now the default map:

http://www.ecomapcostarica.com/map/index.shtml

The original MapServer/OpenLayers map continues to be available here:

http://www.ecomapcostarica.com/map/index_ol.shtml

None of the commercial map systems have sufficient coverage of the Leaves & Lizards property, so in 2008 I had to implement our own maps using MapServer and OpenLayers. In the past year it has become practical to create our own satellite tile layer using Microsoft MapCruncher. This has made a usable Virtual Earth map a practical proposition. Debbie at Leaves & Lizards supplied the aerial photograph which has also been included in the new Virtual Earth map.

9 days and we shall be at Leaves & Lizards for the 2009 field season...