DALLAS, PA. — A group of surveying students from Penn State Wilkes-Barre recently visited the Philadelphia branch of Keystone Aerial Surveys Inc., a professional geospatial data acquisition firm. Accompanied by Lecturer in Surveying Engineering Matthew Sharr, Penn State class of 2014, the group had the chance to tour Keystone Aerial Surveys, Inc.’s facility, seeing its aerial mapping operation, the technology and data processing behind the firm’s work.
With locations across the country, Keystone Aerial Surveys specializes in remote sensing services, capturing imagery and data via aircraft for client projects ranging from large infrastructure work like interstate expansion to emergency response like post-hurricane work.
During the visit, students toured the firm’s airplane hangar, seeing three different planes and where the sensors are mounted inside the aircraft to capture aerial photography and collect other data.
“The planes are not in typical states,” Sharr said. “Seats are taken out, and they’re essentially designed for one pilot and one sensor operator inside. It’s a small operation for capturing major datasets.”
Photos from the planes are taken at a downward angle and at regular intervals so there is overlap in the imagery. From there, the firm can create high-resolution maps of an area with the photographs.
“It’s a way of covering a lot larger of an area, when compared to doing traditional land surveying,” added Sharr.
During a presentation, students also saw the cameras used inside the aircrafts up close — one highlight of the trip for third-year surveying engineering student, Kade Rhule. Rhule has already obtained his drone pilot license during his time as a Penn State Wilkes-Barre student and flew drones during an internship he completed this past summer near State College. Seeing the scale of the equipment used at Keystone Aerial Surveys was new for him.
“It was interesting to see this equipment,” Rhule said. “The cameras are very large, and their processes are high-tech.”
Students also visited the data processing side of the facility, where they saw how team members process Global Positioning System (GPS) data and other information from the aerial imagery, using software to build maps and extrapolate other essential information for client projects.
The trip coincided with SUR 421: Advanced Photogrammetry, a course Sharr is teaching this semester and one in which Rhule is enrolled.
“We talk about aerial mapping processes in class, but it was interesting to see, in a real-world sense, how [Keystone Aerial Surveys’] processes are — seeing how everything is applied in an actual business sense,” Rhule said.
“This trip allowed students to see the equipment and systems used, how they’re actually installed in an airplane, and the people behind all the devices and technologies — the ones who create and interpret the datasets,” added Sharr. “From this experience, some students might find that they want to pursue this kind of surveying work in the future and see themselves in their seats one day.”