Collecting Data in the Alps

How did the Grand Alpine

Tour Team collect their

data?

Can be used to take aerial photographs and survey the area to be studied in more depth at ground level

It can observe access points, areas of risk and allow for the planning of the data collection

Helicopter S

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A radio controlled ‘drone’ is able to have video and photographic cameras attached to it

Its on-board computer can recognise its start and finish points

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Land Rover Discovery

Designed to be driven over rough terrain

Can be used to drive the UAV (and other field equipment) into difficult to access areas for launch

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The UAV camera flies parallel to the slope

It rapidly takes photos of the slope that overlap each other

Therefore the same point is ‘captured’ from multiple perspectives

When repeated several times, a 3D image of the slope can be produced

Structure-from-motion photogrammetry

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Creating a large scale 3D point cloud (a digital model of the slopes) allows the team to look at the Alps as a much larger system rather than only one small part of it at a time.

By measuring the size and shape of the trim line (a rock line created by the retreat of a glacier) over a number of visits, before and after landslides, the team can work out which particular set of characteristics make a slope most prone to landslides.

This may enable them to predict the location of future landslides.

Using the data