Dealing with climate change is also a drone matter: last test campaign of project HYCOS.

GeoNumerics, GEOSAT and Telespazio France have concluded a geo-data collection campaign at Cap Ferret, France, to measure coastal erosion at the Atlantic French coast, based on GeoNumerics' patented mapKITE concept.

On September, 20th and 21st, the project HYCOS concluded its last test campaign by operating a tandem system composed by a Mobile Mapping System (MMS) from French company GEOSAT and a drone equipped with navigation and remote sensing equipment, operated by Octocam-maps. The goal was to collect aerial and terrestrial 3D simultaneous geo-data and compare it to a similar acquisition performed in March, 2018. By doing so, HYCOS is addressing the hybridization of multi-platform, multi-resolution observation methods (satellite, drone and mobile mapping) to measure coastal erosion at the Atlantic French coast. HYCOS becomes therefore one more application of mapKITE, the novel air/ground 3D mapping technology patented by GeoNumerics.

The tests specifically covered the area of Cap Ferret, a popular French coastal area, located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Arcachon, in which natural erosion combined with the severe winter storms in recent years has made the site particularly unstable and dangerous. Naturally, the project has arisen the interest of local authorities and press, and has been featured on local TV.

MapKITE is a GeoNumerics patented (USA 9477230, ES 201231200) method for 3-dimensional corridor mapping that combines the two latest geodata acquisition methods, terrestrial mobile mapping and drone-based mapping. MapKITE is a tandem terrestrial-aerial mapping method and system composed of (1) a terrestrial mobile mapping system (land vehicle and sensors) carrying (2) an optical target on its roof, (3) an [unmanned] drone aerial mapping system and (4) a real-time virtual tether and post-mission software. In a mapKITE mission, the drone follows the land vehicle, and thus the vehicle target becomes a kinematic ground control point visible and measurable on each image. It is a high-accuracy, high-resolution Earth observation –images, 3D point clouds– method. MapKITE combines the advantages of mobile land-based (manned) and aerial drone (unmanned) mapping systems.

GeoNumerics (Castelldefels, Spain) is a research and development (R&D) intensive small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) company specialised in geomatics and accurate navigation. MapKITE is an invention of GeoNumerics.

GEOSAT is a group of 140 people involved in all domains related to 3D/4D measurement with a solid experience in public and private geometric surveys since 2000. GEOSAT has set up its own R&D center, innovating in 3D modeling, urban planning, geo-processing, detection & geo-referencing networks.

Telespazio France draws on its extensive expertise in telecommunications, earth observation, navigation and digital technologies to offer a wide range of data collection and distribution services particularly for the media and major retailers. Telespazio also develops and provides complete geo-information services sourced from a catalogue of data and products.

Octocam-maps is a branch of Octocam-vision devoted to aerial surveying work based in drone technology, and is partnering with GeoNumerics in HYCOS to execute the aerial-component of the HYCOS missions.