Post by Philip on Jul 6, 2012 23:04:53 GMT -9
Well, almost every inch.
NOAA flew a ton of the Alaska coastline and took video and photo stills along the whole way. They are in a database linked to a google-maps-style viewer where you can zoom in on a particular spot on the map and a dotted red line shows you where the aircraft flew, and you can view video or stills (the blue dots along the flight path) at that point going forwards or backwards. It's a lot like google street view, but of the AK shore as seen from the air. This is a cool planning tool for kayakers or other coastal travelers wondering if a stretch of shoreline is rocky or sandy or whatever. It often shows the lower 100 feet of elevation behind the beach too.
Check it out: mapping.fakr.noaa.gov/szflex/
Here is a screen shot showing one of the nicest camping beaches on NW Afognak. The small inset video snapshot on the left shows the beach (indicated on the map as large red circle with the vid camera in it) and the inset photo snapshot on the right (indicated on the map by the large yellow circle with the still camera in it) shows a different part of the coast. You can check or uncheck which of these images you want navigate through below the little viewer windows. Click on a red or blue dot on the map and a little message pops up saying "Play video snapshot from here" or "Play photos from here", and then use the play buttons below the inset images to move forwards or backwards. Totally slick!
Note the readout on the video image. It shows the lat and lon in degrees and decimal minutes where the decimal point place is taken by an N or W. So in the example above, the location is printed on the image as 5824N4146 15249W6684. This translates into 58º 24.4146' N and 152º 49.6684' W.
NOAA flew a ton of the Alaska coastline and took video and photo stills along the whole way. They are in a database linked to a google-maps-style viewer where you can zoom in on a particular spot on the map and a dotted red line shows you where the aircraft flew, and you can view video or stills (the blue dots along the flight path) at that point going forwards or backwards. It's a lot like google street view, but of the AK shore as seen from the air. This is a cool planning tool for kayakers or other coastal travelers wondering if a stretch of shoreline is rocky or sandy or whatever. It often shows the lower 100 feet of elevation behind the beach too.
Check it out: mapping.fakr.noaa.gov/szflex/
Here is a screen shot showing one of the nicest camping beaches on NW Afognak. The small inset video snapshot on the left shows the beach (indicated on the map as large red circle with the vid camera in it) and the inset photo snapshot on the right (indicated on the map by the large yellow circle with the still camera in it) shows a different part of the coast. You can check or uncheck which of these images you want navigate through below the little viewer windows. Click on a red or blue dot on the map and a little message pops up saying "Play video snapshot from here" or "Play photos from here", and then use the play buttons below the inset images to move forwards or backwards. Totally slick!
Note the readout on the video image. It shows the lat and lon in degrees and decimal minutes where the decimal point place is taken by an N or W. So in the example above, the location is printed on the image as 5824N4146 15249W6684. This translates into 58º 24.4146' N and 152º 49.6684' W.
