GrassrootsMapping
Camera Options

Android phones

Any Android phone with a camera (I think that’s all of them) can take pictures with GPS position embedded in the pictures’ metadata. That and the light weight of Android phones makes them ideal for this kind of use.

Several timelapse tools exist on the Android Market, but not all apps run on all phones. You must search for these in the Android Market to install them. Options are as follows:

• LapseDroid: Free, doesn’t run on the Nexus One, does run on the G1/HTC Dream. Stores as JPEGs, but no word on whether these have lat/lon embedded; probably not.
• Timelapse: Runs but doesn’t work on Nexus One, saves as strange file format but will convert to PNG. GPS data (if any) probably gets lost in the conversion.

So we’re still looking for the perfect app. Maybe we’ll just write one; it’d be pretty simple and we could add measurements from the compass and accelerometer so we know which way the camera is pointing.

Image quality

The G1 takes reasonably good photos and, being the first Android phone, is likely to be cheap or available used. See examples of G1 photos on Flickr

Flip video cameras

An HD flip camera can capture good enough quality to stitch a map;

Video cameras are particularly sensitive to turbulence, which will smear/blur the imagery, so either build a rig (perhaps using a Picavet) which will be stable, or fly only on calm days.

This map of Beaver Country Day School (made as part of the Nu Vu Workshop in April 2010) uses imagery from a Flip camera only to the upper left, where we mapped part of a graveyard. The images are wide-format and somewhat smaller/grainier than those of the school itself:

View this map in Cartagen Knitter