Location:
Online (self-paced learning in your own time, on our learning platform UKCEH LearnWorlds).
To give you a feel for what this online learning is like, we put together this video about our online learning platform, UKCEH LEarnWorlds. (external link to YouTube)
We also offer a Drones course face to face - we are hoping to set a new date for 2025 , see here for details.
Cost:
Students: £389 (Use Coupon Code STUDENT)
Professionals: £439
Group ticket (3 professionals – 10% discount)
Sign up online here now! 4 weeks access from the time of enrolment (credit & debit cards accepted; for regular student & professional tickets; external link to UKCEH LearnWorlds)
For group and other discounted tickets go here (external link to our Mitingu sign-up and payments platform)
Short course description:
This online course will provide participants with the basic skills needed to take images collected from a UAV platform such as a quadcopter, process the images into a scene suitable for image processing, and generate classified images. The course will take you through the steps necessary to produce high-quality and accurate maps suitable for the mapping of vegetation and landforms. You will do exercises to practice and consolidate your learning.
It will cover the following topics:
- UK Civil Aviation Authority guidelines and the law
- Drone technology
- Aerial photography
- Image stitching software
- Image classification
The self-paced on-demand training offers:
- 8 Sessions
- 12 Exercises
- 16 videos (approx. 4h 20 min playing time)
- Total learning time approx.15 hours
Course objectives:
- Gain skills to create high-quality and spatially accurate habitat classification maps from data you have captured using your UAV platform.
- Learn how to create digital elevation and surface models.
- Learn how to process these data to map the heights and locations of trees and vegetation or other features
- Learn how to operate your UAV platform within the law
- Gain insight into some of the problems you may encounter when flying your aircraft
- Learn how to bring together the data collected by your aircraft into a spatially accurate and informative map suitable for mapping habitats and change.
Level:
Intermediate - Course participants should be familiar with the manipulation and fusion of spatial data, GIS and/or image processing and UAV platforms for data capture. Knowledge of the programming language R is recommended.
Hardware and software requirements for this course:
We recommend you to use a laptop or desktop computer with at least 8 MB RAM if possible.
The course uses a number of different software for the different stages of processing the images. Key data management principles will apply to whatever software you are using.
- R Studio Desktop (free open-source software)
- R programming language (we recommend R4.4+) for the classification of data (free open-source software)
- spatial analysis software QGIS (free open source)
- PhotoScan (aka Metashape) for a demonstration of the photogrammetric processing of digital images. (We will provide a licence key for a 30-day free trial)
Some prior knowledge of these will be an advantage, especially R Studio. The course materials include instructions on where to locate this software and how to install it.
Course material developed by:
Charles George, Earth Observation Scientist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Charles is very experienced in using ArcGIS, Photoscan and R.
Previous Course participants on the full interactive course said:
"I have learnt a lot so this has been a very useful course & would recommend."
"I have gained a thorough overall understanding of the process and potential challenges to create habitat maps from drones. This understanding will be very helpful when I use drone data products. Thanks you!"
"The course has a nice blend of exercises and lecture - I liked being able to practice a skill just after learning about it."
"Thanks for a very interesting course - lots of good materials and scripts to refer back to as well."
Relevant links and key publications:
Science takes to the skies with ‘Hollywood-style’ remote sensing drone technology.