Aerial\u00a0video of a failure or accident site taken from a drone is one of the lowest cost, lowest technology tasks ever in forensic investigation.\u00a0 And one of the best ways of getting and presenting evidence.\u00a0 Like\u00a0$285\u00a0for 34:41 minutes of video on one of my recent\u00a0investigations.<\/p>\n
And if you like, yours could be taken with a GoPro camera, like those on an Alpine skier’s helmet, borne aloft on a Walmart drone.\u00a0 I’ve seen GoPro-Walmart quality video of a P.E.I. beach scene taken by a hobbyist and it was good.<\/p>\n
My aerial video is taken by a photographer who does contract work for CBC (recently on assignment getting Canadian 150 year birthday video) with multi-thousand dollar equipment, for the Walmart charge-out fee, and his footage of my forensic sites is excellent.<\/p>\n
It’s also a feel-good task as well as low cost,\u00a0simple technology.\u00a0 You’re seeing the site in a different and revealing way.\u00a0 You know you’re getting lots of valuable data captured on 1,000s of\u00a0frames for study of any one or more later.\u00a0 You can even measure features on these\u00a0frames by placing large\u00a0“rulers” on the ground in different positions before your flight\u00a0– simple “ground control” in land surveying jargon.<\/p>\n
I was prompted to mention this when a\u00a0reader remarked that he didn’t think\u00a0his forensic investigation needed high tech aerial video of\u00a0an accident site.\u00a0 (It doesn’t, based on\u00a0his description of\u00a0the site, but this kind of technology came out in a remark of mine about\u00a0different engineering methods)<\/p>\n
He\u00a0could be excused for thinking like that, particularly in light of the recent, front page Globe and Mail coverage of the new, much-needed DOT regulations governing recreational drone flights.\u00a0 The regulations are strict and penalties severe if you don’t abide.<\/p>\n
They are needed when you learn how quickly you can climb hundreds of feet – and into a plane’s flight path.\u00a0 Or zip around a multi-story building – and into a closed window.\u00a0 In fact, think stings-like-a-bumblebee because that’s the speed and\u00a0faint background sound you get as you videotape a failure or accident site.\u00a0 My professional photographer abides of course.\u00a0 We have been for a couple of years\u00a0since\u00a0he started taking\u00a0low cost\u00a0aerial video of my forensic\u00a0sites.<\/p>\n
The take-away from this is the valuable data you get with low cost, low tech aerial video – and feeling good and having fun while you’re getting it.\u00a0 The photographer flies the drone while you direct the video coverage from the “co-pilot’s seat”, a flight monitor on a tripod nearby.\u00a0 This technology is certainly not applicable to all investigations as my\u00a0reader noted but valuable when it is –\u00a0and an impressive\u00a0way of\u00a0presenting evidence to the judicial system.<\/p>\n
(Hello:<\/strong>\u00a0Read some of the blogs below, for sure, #5<\/em>, to get a feel for the valuable expert data possible\u00a0with\u00a0a low cost aerial video of your site)<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n Aerial\u00a0video of a failure or accident site taken from a drone is one of the lowest cost, lowest technology tasks ever in forensic investigation.\u00a0 And one of the best ways of getting and presenting evidence.\u00a0 Like\u00a0$285\u00a0for 34:41 minutes of video … Continue reading \n