GIS4035 Module 1: Aerial Photo Visual Interpretation

This week marked the beginning of a new course, GIS 4035 Photo Interpretation and Remote Sensing! To introduce aerial photo interpretation and evaluation techniques, the first lab involved examining aerial photos and identifying land areas or features using the following techniques: 

Tone

Texture

Shape Size

Shadows

Pattern

Associated features

The first map identifies five areas with varying tone, ranging from very light, light, medium, dark, and very dark, shown as yellow polygons. Notable areas included a unvegetated, sandy area that showed as very light color, while the forested area towards the top right corner of the photo appeared very dark. Additionally, five other areas were identified with varying textures, ranging from very fine, fine, mottled, course, and very course. These areas are shown as purple polygons. The finest texture was seen for the water features, followed by sand, sparsely vegetated areas, forested areas, and then highly developed areas. 

The second map identified features based on several techniques. Three features were identified using shape size and were marked using point features and labeled accordingly. These features were a pool, a water storage tower, and a pier. Three additional features were identified based on their recognizable shadow shapes/lengths, such as palm trees and light poles. Three more features were identified based on their pattern, specifically repeating parking spots in parking lots, dashed road lines for roadways, and repeating driveways for a residential neighborhood. Lastly, two features were identified based on their surrounding associated features, specifically a parking lot with associated parked cars and a beach with water and shoreline.