Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality adopts Pictometry
AOC (part of the AAM Group) has recently completed the flying, image capture, processing and delivery of Pictometry® imagery for the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, covering the former Port Elizabeth City and surrounds.
The project covered 1960km2 of city, suburban and rural areas stretching from van Stadens River in the West to Sundays River in the East and inland past Uitenhage.
The key factors driving the Municipality’s decision to move from a traditional air photo product to Pictometry’s analysis tools and multiangle oblique imagery was two tiered:
1. the image warehouse of high resolution digital images (12cm GSD) is unmatched in the South African marketplace; and
2. the numerous, multi-angle images of any location allows users to access and measure all sides of any feature or area quickly and easily.
Stephen Canter, GIS Manager for the NMBM, advised “These two factors made selection of Pictometry a simple choice. Our Valuation and Disaster Management Sections immediately saw the benefits of Pictometry; with over 12 oblique views of any location.
“The multiple, georeferenced views and the power of the measurement functions greatly aid desktop verification of structures on properties, as well as identify increased population density within informal settlements.”
In addition to the traditional engineering and town planning roles, the Pictometry content will be used by the tourism, emergency response, disaster management, law enforcement and beach and parks departments.
As a tool for property valuations, Pictometry is invaluable by reducing fieldwork, dealing with objections and as input to the Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) functions. It is predicted that improvements on these valuation tasks alone will recover the costs of the Pictometry imagery over a two year period.
Pictometry will provide a valuable dataset for the next phase of the GIS evolution, namely the generation of fully rendered 3D building models. Experience in Australia has proven that Pictometry is the ideal source of oblique imagery for the rendering of 3D models. To date, examples of these have been built over parts of Cape Town by AOC and they are being considered for certain architectural and heritage use in Nelson Mandela Metro.
To view 3D city model examples, visit our webpage here.
The South African challenges of providing housing and uplifting the poor, requires the involvement of many stakeholders, many of whom are non-technical. The Pictometry obliques will provide a useful method of visualising these challenges and will assist greatly in finding the solutions. AOC sees this as a unique and challenging application of aerial imagery and GIS technology in supporting government and municipal objectives.
For further information on Pictometry, visit our webpage here.
Above: Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
