CIPM (MSU) signed contract with JHS, Inc. in October 2009 to conduct the Yellowstone River Corridor Imagery Project. The project will demonstrate the usefulness of non-georeferenced imagery for digitizing infestations of saltcedar and Russian olive. The project will be accomplished by taking vertical pictures from a twin engine aircraft with a 21-megapixel camera along both shores of the Yellowstone, Bighorn, and Tongue rivers, covering a total of 1,500 river miles. The individual pictures will then be post-processed and linked with a corresponding point layer in ESRI’s ArcView GIS software to show the location where each picture was taken. County weed control personnel will receive training from the Contractor on how to digitize infestations on their computers.

JHS, Inc. will be notified when to start the flights over the project area (weather and/or vegetation conditions permitting, projected to begin in spring or fall 2010), and will then proceed to take vertical pictures from approximately 500 feet above the ground. Pictures will be taken at about five-second intervals over both banks of the Yellowstone River from Laurel, Montana to Miles City, Montana. Pictures will also be taken over 150 miles of the Bighorn River and 250 miles of the Tongue River. Post-processing of the imagery will consist of linking each picture to a corresponding point where the picture was taken, and then all of the imagery and points will be separated by county and placed on a portable hard drive. The data will be placed on county weed control computers and county staff will be trained in digitizing techniques using ArcView and GPS Photo Link software. Infestation data can then be digitized as point, line, or polygon layers, and associated attribute data can be added to each digitized feature.

The objective of this project is to enable county weed control personnel to use the new imagery to digitize the location of saltcedar and Russian olive with minimal training. Utilizing low cost GPS Photo Link software in conjunction with existing ArcView licenses, each user will be taught how to select photo data points and use the visual input from the photos to digitize locations into a corresponding database.

The project will start upon notification to JHS, Inc. from Dave Burch (Montana Department of Agriculture) and Scott Bockness (Yellowstone County, Montana Weed Coordinator) that the vegetation conditions in the project area are conducive to the best imagery possible (projected to be in spring or fall 2010). The post-processing, data transfer, and training will take place during the three-month period following the imagery flights.

Under the provisions of this scope of work, JHS, Inc. will utilize their Canon EOS-1 Ds Mk III 21-megapixel digital camera to take pictures of both shores of the project rivers from a twin engine aircraft from approximately 500 feet above ground level. The various flights will generally take place over a five-day period to ensure best light for all of the pictures. The photos will then be post-processed by JHS, Inc. utilizing their custom built computer system for handling massive volumes of raw imagery data. Each photo will then be run through GPS Photo Link software, which creates a point feature shapefile that has a corresponding point for the location of the plane when each picture was taken. The final data will be split by county (Yellowstone, Big Horn, Treasure, Rosebud, and Custer) and transferred to a portable hard drive, so it can be placed on the counties’ computers. JHS, Inc. will assist each county with necessary software installations (ArcView and GPS Photo Link) and any other configuration requirements, so the photos can be used properly. Once all of the software and data are loaded, JHS, Inc. will demonstrate various techniques for viewing the photos, extrapolating infestation data, and then digitizing the data as a new point, line, or polygon feature class. County staff will also be trained in how to add attribute data to the features, and a basic metadata file will be created for future users of the data.

Project Deliverables: JHS, Inc. will initiate imagery flights upon receiving notification (weather and/or vegetation conditions permitting, projected to be in spring 2010 or fall 2010). JHS, Inc. will complete of the imagery flights and will process of all images, sort the data by county, and load the data onto portable hard drives. JHS, Inc. will deliver and transfer the county data onto county weed control computers, and then train county weed control staff to digitize infestation data. The project will be completed by August 31, 2011.