By: Paul Goodman
Sonoma County and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office just released two-centimeter drone imagery of Coffey Park and Journey’s End after last week’s Tubbs Fire. Government officials are releasing the maps with roads and other context needed by residents and those running post-disaster analysis:
The authorities are working with drone pilot Gregory Crustinger of Drone Scholars to publish this high-resolution drone imagery as residents begin returning to the areas destroyed by the fire. As we saw after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, drones are playing a critical role in imagery collection following historic disasters.
Being able to quickly visualize massive UAV datasets and share them across coordinating agencies has been incredibly valuable for this disaster in Northern California. I firmly believe we have set a new precedent for how geospatial data will be used by first responders in emergencies moving forward. Thank you to the Mapbox team for their rapid assistance on the projects.”
— Commander Tom Madigan, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office
The devastation to the community is staggering:
Gregory captured this imagery flying a DJI drone and then processed the images with Pix4D and Hangar.
If you or your team are collecting imagery in the wake of the fires in Northern California or another disaster and need help publishing it, email our team or reach out to @mapbox on twitter and let us know how we can help.
For those wishing they could help rebuild, please consider donating to the Red Cross which is supporting all residents including the 28,000 undocumented workers that have been affected by the fires.
2 cm drone imagery of damage to Coffey Park and Journey’s End in Santa Rosa was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.