Indufor delivers aerial imaging system to the WCS Conservation Flight Program, Tanzania

09/02/2006


The Wildlife Conservation Society, Tanzania Program has ordered an EnsoMOSAIC digital aerial imaging system from Indufor Oy, Finland. The delivery will include software for navigation, imaging and image processing, and a camera control box with an integrated GPS (Global Positioning System) unit. On the job training in use of the system will take place in Iringa, Tanzania in February 2006.

WCS will use image data generated by the EnsoMOSAIC system for conservation planning and protected area management in Africa. "The aerial perspective enables us to collect large amounts of land use and vegetation cover data in a comparatively short time," says David Moyer, Coordinator of the WCS Conservation Flight Program. "We chose EnsoMOSAIC because of the capability of automated processing of photo-mosaics from aerial photos. These high-resolution mosaics tell us much more about habitat quality and human impacts in protected areas than conventional satellite images can."

EnsoMOSAIC is a complete aerial digital imaging and image processing system that enables image grabbing in conditions where conventional aerial or satellite photography fail – under cloud cover. It is the world leader in small-format aerial imaging technology for detailed land-use planning and vegetation mapping.

The EnsoMOSAIC system improves the productivity of imaging flights and subsequent image processing. The results – digital elevation models and orthorectified, high-resolution image mosaics – are produced almost in real time. The system uses off-the-shelf professional digital SLR cameras, and can offer a ground resolution of 0.1 meter and a geometric accuracy of one meter.

Purchase of the EnsoMOSAIC system was funded by a grant to WCS from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) to facilitate mapping of the forests on the Eastern Arc and Coastal Forest region. These image data will be used to determine the total forest area remaining, document the extent of forest cover change in the past 50 years, and to identify current and emerging threats to the biodiversity of this unique and threatened area.

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The WCS Conservation Flight Program is based in Tanzania and is a conservation support program of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (Formerly the New York Zoological Society). The mission of WCS is to save wildlife and wild places through science and education. (Further info: http://www.wcs.org/international/Africa/Tanzania)

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation. (Further info: www.cepf.net

Indufor Oy is a Helsinki, Finland-based consulting company that provides consulting and advisory services from project planning to implementation and evaluation for natural resource management and forest industries. Achieving a balance between economic, social and environmental values in the forest sector is one of Indufor's goals. (Further info: www.indufor.fi/ensomosaic.htm)