Map Your World: DIY Aerial Photography with Balloon Mapping and PublicLab.org | The Compost Bin | Forums

So since breaking ground at my property, I've been waiting to see Google Maps and Google Earth update their Satellite view to reflect the changes at my property. Its been nearly 7 months since breaking ground, but Google's data is from 26 months ago. TerraServer has the most current imagery I can find online and shows the changes in low resolution gray-scale photography from 6 months ago.

I've found the solution to seeing what things look like from a bird's eye view: DIY Ballon Mapping.

I'm creating this thread both to share what I've discovered so far and as a central place for myself and others here to continue documenting as more is learned.

I first found an older article on LifeHacker which gives a basic intro and primer with a few links. One of the links was outdated. I've not tried all links, so others may be as well. The outdated link was for the "Cartagen Knitter" which has since evolved into it's own website called MapKnitter. It is a open project run by PublicLab who also sells ready-made Balloon Mapping Kits that provide many of the items you need to get started. The kits are most notably absent the most costly items: camera and helium tanks. The kit is $95.

A tank of helium appears to run about $30 to $60 for a 14.9 cuft tank. The balloon in the kit takes between 40 and 85 cuft. I'm uncertain if that means it would take more than one tank per balloon or not. The kit's balloon is 5.5 feet in diameter. It may be possible to use 3 foot diameter balloons, but I'm not that far along in my research yet to say.

Cameras are whatever you prefer, but they do offer recommendations including a few camera reviews. From a quick look, the Canon Powershot SX260 HS and Canon Powershot A4000 IS sounded like promising cameras to investigate further. About $140 and $180 respectively and a data card will add to the total. They emphasize that you'll want a light weight camera with continuous mode or CHDK and suggest inexpensive point and shoot cameras with 8 to 12 megapixels of resolution. I'll add the suggestion of making sure the megapixels are optical hardware based as some manufacturers use software interpolation to claim higher resolutions than what the hardware is capable of. Since this method can result in lost or damaged equipment from balloons blowing away, ground tethers breaking, or hard impacts from a fall or other accident, it's best to not spend too much on the camera.

There is also the Grassroots Mapping website which has been merged into Public Lab.