Symposium on Remote Sensing for Resources Development and Environmental Management / Enschede / August 1986
853
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n Klagenfurt,
Small format aerial photography - A new planning
and administrative tool for town planners in India
P.Misra
Human Settlement Analysis Group, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun
ABSTRACT: Small format (35mm and 70mm) aerial photography (SFAP) was flown in Delhi in July, 1985 for the firstitime
in India. In carrying out'the development of the technology, the requirements of major physical inputs for the town
planners were kept in view, although other disciplines like vegetation, soil, land use, and agriculture would also benefit
from SFAP.
The SFAP has been received very well by the profession of town planners. At present, it has been used for small areas
eg. slums, clusters of small hutments and unauthorized encroachments on govt. land.
Case study of Rohini city development project under Delhi Development Authority has been described. The technique
is highly suitable for updating an existing city base map even when non-metric cameras are used. Experiment is continu
ing with metric 70mm camera for producing quick base map for small towns and for providing information for environment
impact-assessment which is so very essential for starting any physical project in India.
A simple technology like SFAP which is cost and time effective will always be more acceptable in developing countries.
1. INTRODUCTION
Conventional aerial photography is taken by sophisticated
cameras (WILD, ZEISS etc.) costing more than 150-200
thousand rupees. The manufacturers have tried to make
their lenses almost distortion free, resulting in accuracies
of much better than 1/10,000 of flying height. Such a tech
nology is also utilised in the field of photo-interpretation
(aerial remote sensing) where high geometric (metric) qua
lity is not required. For interpretation, the stress is on
high resolution which will enable a town planner to pick
up 'dwelling units' or 'encroachments' with good discrimi
nation.
Further, the process of getting the conventional large
format aerial photography is not economical for small are
as. If the information is required for a small area like
'slums' and unauthorized colonies, the conventional flight
mission becomes very costly and time consuming. A way
out is now available in the use of small format aerial
photography.
The use of 35mm and 70mm camera has found many app
lications in 'Urban Planning and Monitoring'. Some of the
uses are :
a) monitoring changes over a period of time
b) updating information expeditiously
c) location of exact size, composition, distribution and
physical characteristics of marginal settlement eg.
slums, squatter area and other low-income settlements
d) supplementing regular census surveys
e) traffic and parking studies
f) vegetation/tree inventory and other thematic informa
tion gathering.
It may be mentioned that aerial photography is governed
by the security measures/procedures as laid down by the
Ministry of Defence and under the Aircraft Act in India.
However, bonafi de aerial photography continues to grow in
India. Over the last 3-4 years, the possibility of utilization
of small format aerial photography has been explored by
the Human Settlement Analysis Croup of Indian Institute
of Remote Sensing. It may be mentioned that HUSA Group
has been established under a joint ITC-IIRS project which
started in India in 1982. Case study of Rohini Project is
the first case in which SFAP has been used in India for
urban planners
2. CASE STUDY OF ROHINI PROJECT OF NEW DELHI
The location of our study area falls within the overall
project area of Rohini, a special colony development and
housing project of Delhi Development Authority. The pro
ject is designed to cater to the needs of about 2.5 million
persons on the NW extent of existing capital New Delhi.
It was reported by the Project Manager that unauthorized
construction of structures/buildings is going on especially
near the villages which have been acquired for the project.
2.1 Objectives of the study
a) to get experience of actually carrying out aerial flying
including navigation with small format (35mm and 70
mm) cameras; performances of the pilot-airc raft and
the photo-elements of camera-film combinations
b) since the flying was to be done over real problem
areas, to get feed back from user on problems of enc
roachment on public land, slums etc.
c) to judge the capability of small format aerial photo
graphy (SFAP) for updating the base map which was
available on 1 :10,000 and 1:5000 scales
d) to evaluate SFAP for providing information on themes
like tree cover, soil characteristics, drainage, land use
etc. in the urban environment.
2.2 Platform (aircraft) and camera mount
It was originally planned to make use of 'SHADOW' (U.K.)
Microlight* (a bare-minimum sports aircraft weighing less
than 250 lbs). The procurement of this aircraft was, how
ever, delayed and we had to resort to another aircraft
called 'PUSHPAK' belonging to the Delhi Flying Club, a
* Note : Microiight aircrafts are a new development in
aviation sports. These are very low in cost (about $6000).
Most of them can be dismantled and can be carried over
top of a trailer/big car and can be assembled in less than
one hour. Another important characteristic is that they
do not require an area bigger than a football field for take
off and landing. These can be operated without the consi
deration of a big aerodrome in the vicinity of area to be
surveyed. It is our intention to test this aircraft as an
additional survey facility.
