Bluesky Announces European Expansion Plans

Aerial mapping company Bluesky has announced the expansion of its aerial photography capture programme beyond the UK to include the Republic of Ireland. This new flying programme will see dedicated survey planes based in Ireland from the beginning of April 2015, simultaneously capturing high-resolution aerial photography and colour-infrared imagery. Bluesky’s 70,000-square-kilometre expansion programme will be officially launched at Intergeo, which is taking place in Berlin from 7-9 October 2014, and at the GIS Ireland Conference to be held in Dublin on 16 October 2014.

Bluesky’s experience in nationwide data capture programmes, gained over the last fifteen years in the UK, combined with a dedicated sales team based in Ireland, places the company in a great position for this new and exciting venture, commented Rachel Tidmarsh, managing director of Leicestershire-based Bluesky International. The company is also extremely pleased with the interest in their product range and support for the plans that has already been received and expressed by a range of organisations throughout Ireland.

Bluesky will capture high-resolution aerial photography and colour-infrared imagery for the whole of the Republic of Ireland during the summer months of 2015.  Planes equipped with the latest Vexcel cameras will operate out of multiple flying bases, including Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Donegal, to ensure maximum optimisation of all flying opportunities.

Data capture products

Products from the Bluesky data capture will include 25cm-resolution coverage for the whole country with 12.5cm resolution data for selected urban areas. In additiona national Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and Digital Surface Model (DSM) will be created. Following the creation of these four core datasets Bluesky will also produce other derived products such as a detailed National Tree Map, 3D Building Models and a SolAR mapping product which identifies roofs suitable for solar panels.  These datasets will be available in a variety of GIS ready formats as well as online at Bluesky’s Mapshop.

Bluesky is an expert in the capture of remotely sensed data and the production of innovative geographic data products. Bluesky recently launched to market the first ever detailed National Tree Map of England and Wales, is providing technical lead in a European Commission funded project into a web based renewable energy rating platform and has close ties with the University of Leicester working to develop solutions for air quality mapping and night time aerial surveys. In addition, in partnership with Getmapping, Bluesky has recently been awarded a multi-million pound contract for the supply of geographic data to UK Central Government organisations.