Module 1 - Visual Interpretation Lab

 This module marks the beginning of my work with GIS4035 Photo Interpretation and Remote Sensing. This first module provided the basics of how aerial photography works from a technical perspective and the standard practices used to interpret them. The lab exercise for this module required that I look critically at how tone and texture vary over an image, different techniques used to identify objects, and how color changes between true color and false color imagery.

Step 1:

I was provided an aerial photo of an industrialized and forested area for this part of the exercise. I was asked to create two polygon feature classes and create polygons around areas that represented varying scales of texture and tone. Using the knowledge gained in this module's coursework, I created the following map layout in ArcGIS Pro:

The map layout above depicts polygonal areas encompassing areas of the aerial photo over a range of textures and tones. The blue areas represent texture ranging from very fine to very coarse, while the orange areas represent tone ranging from very light to very dark.

Step 2:

In this portion of the lab exercise, I was asked to perform a similar analysis to Step 1. however for this step I would be creating points to symbolize objects that I had determined the nature of using standard photo interpretation techniques. I used shape and size, pattern, shadow, and association recognition to determine these objects and create the following map layout:

The above image was created in ArcGIS Pro and the points represent objects that the nature of was determined through photo interpretation techniques. The color of the point indicates what technique was used to make the determination, as per the legend.

Step 3:

In the final step of this exercise, I was provided an aerial photo covering the same area in both true color and false color forms. I created points for five different features and noted the color of each feature in both photos. There was no map layout necessary for this portion, however it was good visual practice to better understand the differences between true and false color imagery.