12. Flight Library
• Flight Library intends to be an online resource
bringing together maps, images, and descriptions
of prominent landmarks visible from common
commercial flight routes.
• Prior to flying users can access Flight Library to
compile a personal “flight guide” to create real-
time customized tours describing what will be
visible below during their flights.
21. Metadata Element Groups
• Geospatial and temporal
• Landmark Location
• GPS point
• Geographical region
• State/ province • Landmark description
• Flight route location • Landmark type (national
• Landmark name park, geological, urban,
natural, architectural,
etc)
• Flight route groupings
23. Data
• All data born
digital
• Created by Flight
Library staff
24. Data: Acquisition
• Flight route analysis
• Test flights
• Assess with user groups
• Research landmarks for
descriptions
• Survey trips for photographs
25. Aerial and Satellite Images
“Google Earth Pro gives
you access to Google's
comprehensive globe,
including aerial imagery,
street data, panoramic
Street View images,
historical imagery, and
points of interest.”
http://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/earthpro.html
27. Sustainability: Data
• Born digital data meets
current technical
specification standards
• CONTENTdm provide
off-site server and data
backup
28. Sustainability: Financial
• Paid access site
• Airline affiliation and
sponsorship
• Advertising
• Customer amenity
• Flight Library inflight
entertainment
29. Timeline
Week 1-3 - Analyze popular flight routes to identify landmarks
- Compile test group (possibly through consumer
testing service)
- Consult web developer to design custom paid-access
portal and flight guide creation
Week 4 - Meet with test group to evaluate landmark interest
- Begin writing landmark descriptions
- Edit landmark options based on test group feedback
Week 5-9 - Conduct survey flights
- While traveling visit landmarks to collect landmark
detail photographs for those not visible in Google
Earth Pro street view screenshots
- Continue writing landmark descriptions
30. Timeline (continued)
Week 10-12 - Add finished items to CONTENTdm collections
- Compile flight guide for feedback test flight
- Begin testing web developer’s custom portals and
discuss edits
Week 13 - Check CONTENTdm for quality control
- Conduct user test flight and collect feedback
Week 14-15 - Incorporate user feedback into flight guide pdf layout
and usability
- Collect user feedback on online collection navigability
and metadata options
Week 16 - Incorporate feedback
- Final collection quality control surveys and tests
- With help of web developer, publish live site
31. Budget
Budget Item Description Cost
Google Earth Pro subscription / year $399
Domain hosting / year $35
Domain purchase $15
Freelance Web Developer $700
FL Project Manager / year $33,000
FL Staff member 1 (4 months) $10,000
FL Staff member 2 (4 months) $10,000
FL Staff traveling $5,000
Equipment (computers, camera, etc) $4,000
Test Group payment (5 members) $1,000
Test Group travel flight $1,000
TOTAL $65,149
I’d like to start with some background information and share some pictures from a recent camping trip to I took to Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah.Canyonlands National Park Preserves 337,598 acres of Colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and spires in the heart of southeast Utah's high desert, shaped over time by water and gravity.(photograph taken by self; ; park information from National Park Service website http://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/upload/2010CanyTripPlanner.pdf )
This is a satellite map of the park, which is naturally divided into three districts by the intersection of the Green River and the Colorado River.The districts are The Maze, Needles, and Island in the Sky. There are no bridges crossing the rivers, and the rough desert canyon terrain makes ground travel between the districts very difficult. Though aerially the districts are separated by about 12 miles, the average traveler must drive nearly 100 miles around to access a river crossing and paved roads to travel from Island in the Sky to Needles. The Maze is another story, which is only accessible by foot or 4-wheel drive off road vehicles.On this trip I visited Island in the Sky, which is the most easily accessible by car.(map screenshot from Google Maps; park information from National Park Service website http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm )
Despite being the easiest district to access in the park, Island in the Sky is still very remote.The park is serviced by Grand Junction airport in Colorado, 165 miles away, and by the Salt Lake City Airport, 291 miles away.The entrance to the park is 81 miles from a major interstate highway (I70), 22 miles from the nearest gas station, and 32 miles from the nearest town Moab, which also means 32 miles from the nearest restaurant, hotel, or hospital.(photograph taken by self; map screenshot from Google Maps; park information from National Park Service website http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm and google map directions)
The park has little to no cell phone reception; and absolutely no Internet access.Water is also extremely rare throughout the park. There are scattered springs, but drinking from these springs, the Green River, or the Colorado River is not recommended as the water is very silty and hard to purify.The only guaranteed potable water available at Island in the Sky is in the Visitor’s Center. (There is not even running water at the camp site; all drinking and cleaning water must be carried in)The bottom line is this desert climate is visitors will be in big trouble if they do not carry enough water along.(photograph taken by self; map screenshot from Google Maps; park information from National Park Service website http://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/upload/2010CanyTripPlanner.pdf)
So Canyonlands is remotely located, and requires a substantial time commitment to travel to and visit.Gasoline, food, and drinking water are not readily available so visitor’s must come prepared in order to make the most of their visits.And with limited cell phone reception and emergency services more than 30 miles away visitors need to possess a certain degree of self reliance.Canyonlands contains a beautiful, unique landscape, but, these factors could severely limit many people’s ability or willingness to visit.I intend to find a way to make Canyonlands available to more people, not only through a virtual interface but to find a new way for people to visit and experience the park in person.When looking through my photos, I couldn’t help but notice a common thread (aside from fabulous sunrises and sunsets….)(photograph taken by self; map screenshot from Google Maps; park information from National Park Service website http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm and google map directions)
(photo by self)
(photo by self)
(photo by self)
(photo by self)
… In many of my pictures numerous airplane trails criss-cross the sky, in all directions and at all times of day.Though Canyonlands National Park may be difficult to access by car, these plane trails show evidence that it is visible aerially from countless airplanes. Thus, Canyonlands is potentially visible to hundreds of airplane passengers daily. With some informational guidance, these passengers could identify and experience the beauty of the park aerially without committing the time or physical strains of a conventional visit by car.Canyonlands National Park is the perfect candidate for landmark inclusion in Flight Library.(photo by self)
Flight Library intends to be an online resource bringing together maps, images, and descriptions of prominent geographical landmarks and cities visible from common commercial flight routes.Prior to flying users can access Flight Library to compile a personal “flight guide” to create real-time customized tours describing what will be visible below during their flights.Flight Library will serve as a learning tool for children and adults, can aid researchers attempting to identify specific landmarks, and will provide entertainment for frequent fliers that need to take their minds away from business traveling stresses.(image from http://www.do2learn.com/picturecards/images/imageschedule/airplane2.gif )
Numerous existing air tour companies prove that user interest exists for narrated aerial tours of prominent landmarks. Such tour companies service landmarks including the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Las Vegas, Miami, and US glaciers. As you can see in the top left corner one Alaskan glacier viewing company has even coined the term “Flight Seeing”.Though these tours operate regularly, they are expensive, time consuming, and may be difficult for some demographics to access. On the bottom left you’ll see the Sobe Seaplane Tour.(screenshots from http://coptertours.com/tours/custer/http://www.viator.com/tours/Las-Vegas/Las-Vegas-Night-Strip-Helicopter-Tour/d684-3422_N02http://www.miamiseaplane.com/scenicflights.phphttp://www.glacierair.com/http://www.talkeetnaair.com/ )
The Sobe Seaplane Tour costs $135 PER PERSON, for a 15 minute ride. That is $540 per person per hour. Air tours such as this may be completely impractical for a family traveling on a tight budget or a business traveler with limited leisure time (or no traveling companion to meet Sobe’s 2 passenger minimum). Additionally, these commercial tour companies are limited to landmarks that customers can easily access in heavily touristed areas.Flight Library will be the resource to fill these gaps, providing users access to a self-guided aerial tour for no more time or financial commitment than the plane ticket they already purchased. FL will also include remote locations such as Canyonlands National Park that may not be accessible or visible from private tour flights. It will provide an economical alternative to private “flightseeing” tours and grant users access to a greater wealth of landmarks and associated media than any individual air tour company can offer all while making the flight a part of the destination. (screenshots from http://coptertours.com/tours/custer/http://www.viator.com/tours/Las-Vegas/Las-Vegas-Night-Strip-Helicopter-Tour/d684-3422_N02http://www.miamiseaplane.com/scenicflights.phphttp://www.glacierair.com/http://www.talkeetnaair.com/ )
FL will be divided into two sites to cater to individual user needs: a free public site and a paid access site with more customization options. Both sites will be based upon the same collection hosted by CONTENTdm (which I will discuss later). The public site will allow users to browse the collection, save images and media, and compile their own flight guides for free. The paid-access site will provide more flight guide customization options to users, such as only showing cultural history or geological landmarks and descriptions. Thissite will have advanced functions to automatically compile custom flight-guides for users; a user will only need to enter the departure location, destination, and landmark preferences for FL to produce a custom flight guide based on metadata analysis. All media, on both the public and paid sites, will be available in PDF output so that users can universally print or view guides from an offline laptop or tablet inflight.(image from http://re3org.blogspot.com/2010/04/nc-e-waste-legislation-primer.html )
FL will incorporate user feedback at every stage of development and presentation through community outreach and participation incentives; in order to be successful FL must be receptive to user interest and demand. The test groups will be included in flight route and landmark selection,willtake test flights to give landmark visibility feedback, and evaluate the websites’ searchability and flight guide PDF layouts.Once the collection websites are live, the site will continue to encourage feedback. Both public and paid sites will include prominent request forms and areas for general feedback. (image from http://rmsbunkerblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/satisfaction-survey-vendor-rms-news-summer-2012/ )
Though online map and aerial photograph collections currently exist, there is no such collection that correlates detailed media with commercial flight routes as FL intends. Current collections require users to conduct their own research and compile flight guides from different sources. These include Western Washington University, which is a collection of current and historical photographs and maps from aerial surveys, and the US Geological Survey, which displays aerial maps and photographs collected and archived for the USGS.( screen shots from http://libguides.wwu.edu/content.php?pid=270802&sid=2241526 and http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/aerial/aerial.html )
In providing such detailed metadata options FL needs to implement a searching format that allows users to easily find the desired information and fully utilize the collection’s holdings. FL will model its public search page on the varied metadata search fields of the National Snow and Ice Data Center’s Glacier Photograph Collection search page. This page provides very detailed search options based on media’s associated metadata to enable users to find desired information from a variety of search entries, such as:- specific collection holdings- spatial and temporal data including country, state/ province, year, and longitudinal/ latitudinal spatial search- specific photographic information including glacier name and/or photographer name(screenshot from http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/glacier_photos/glacier_photo_search.pl )
Based on the NSIDC metadata searching model, this illustrates FL’s search page prototype.The arrows in the “route”, “landmark”, and “map” search fields will allow users to select from existing metadata options associated with media in the collections. If a desired route, landmark, or region does not exist the user may submit a request via a previously mentioned feedback formSo, this is the search site prototype, but what kind of media will be included in FL?
The primary data content types will consist of:- maps- aerial satellite photographs- close-up landmark photographs- landmark descriptions(Arch close up http://www.interestingamerica.com/images/MO_images/St_Louis/Gateway_Arch/St_Louis_Gateway_Arch_Park_Side_426.png ; aerial screenshots and maps https://maps.google.com/ )
Metadata element groups will consist of:- geospatial and temporal - landmark location: gps point, geographical region, and state/ province - flight route location- landmark name- landmark description- landmark type (national park, geological, urban, natural, architectural, etc)- flight route groupings
Collections will be organized by geographical region: US northeast, mid-atlantic, southeast, south, midwest, northwest, and southwest. This will make certain no collection grows excessively large, such as if collections were divided into maps, photographs, and descriptions. Additionally, it provides a clear formatting standard for future collection growth. Users can navigate between collections to research landmarks and compile flight guides.(image from http://www.fccsc.k12.in.us/les/tech/webquests/travel7/images/regionmap.gif )
All FL content will be created by FL staff as born digital data rather than aggregated or inconsistently digitized materials. In this way, FL has control over every aspect of format for each piece in the collection to ensure uniform quality standardsThis will also take care of an copyright issues for future iterations of the collection. (image from http://queenlibs.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/baby-at-laptop.gif?w=252 )
Collecting and compiling data will be a very large initial undertaking, so initialFL inclusions will be restricted to the most popular US domestic routes flown multiple times daily. This will allow the largest possible survey group to shape the features of the library with their feedback. FL staff will thoroughly addresses all media creation without being overwhelmed by endless landmark possibilities. Depending on the success of the collection, FL has the potential for continual expansion including global markets.FL staff will first conduct flight route analysis and take test flights to identify landmarks visible from each flight route. Once landmarks are collected and assessed with user groups, FL staff will research landmarks to compile landmark descriptions and conduct landmark survey trips to collect close-up landmark photographs.(images from http://bestclipartblog.com/clipart-pics/-camera-clipart-3.jpg and http://rmsbunkerblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/satisfaction-survey-vendor-rms-news-summer-2012/ and http://www.do2learn.com/picturecards/images/imageschedule/airplane2.gif )
After exploring several mapping options, FL decided to purchase a subscription to Google Earth Pro ($399/ year) to produce all maps and aerial photographs. Though google has free map-embedding applications available, these are only available for informational sites. FL’s paid access site could violate copyrights by using this free service.Additionally, the free embedded maps are dynamically connected to Google’s map database rather than still images, which would prove problematic if attempting to insert in a database.“Google Earth Pro gives you access to Google's comprehensive globe, including aerial imagery, street data, panoramic Street View images, historical imagery, and points of interest.”Google Earth Pro offers tools to print high resolution screenshots, which will be included in the collection as read-only maps and aerial photographs. When available, FL will also utilize street view screenshots for landmark detail photographs. Map and image screenshots will retain their original copyright and source information in the lower right corner, thus adhering to the Google Earth Licensing Agreement.(screenshots from http://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/earthpro.html ; Google Earth Licensing Agreement http://earth.google.com/intl/en/licensepro.html )
As I previously mentioned, FL will be a collection hosted by CONTENTdm. CONTENTdm provides a free hosting service which does not require FL staff to acquire the technical knowledge to build a digital library infrastructure. Instead, staff will focus their attention on creating FL content. As FL grows it will have the option to upgrade to a paid CONTENTdm hosting account, allowing for more storage and customization options.(screenshots from http://www.contentdm.org/ )
FL will support data security and sustainability by design. All data in the collection will be born digital and created by FL staff, so it will conform to the most current online technical specification standards. This will minimize the need for immediate media migrations and updates. Additionally, CONTENTdm hosting includes off-site server space and data backups. This frees FL from the costs and maintenance required of an in-house server. (image from http://www.newsoftwares.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Keep-your-business-data.jpg )
Financially, FL will sustain on paid user access (beyond initial start-up costs). Fee scales will be determined based upon the cost required to build the custom flight route interface and the estimated usage.FL will also explore airline affiliations and sponsorships to provide financial sustainability. Staff will shop the collection’s services to airlines for potential advertising opportunities as well as offering an added airline customer amenity. For example, ticket holders may be offered free access to custom flight guide services, or affiliated airlines could incorporate FL data into their in-flight entertainment services. Depending on the sponsorship level, this could be in the form of printed materials or an addition to personal media consoles available in each seat. Securing airline funding would not only offer financial sustainability but would also contribute to FL’s growth.(image from http://oneinabillionblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/financial-security1.jpg ; image modified from http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/vxred.jpg
Once all FL staff is selected and hired, I propose to have data created, compiled, and tested to have a live website in four months (16 weeks)In this outline you will see that all staff research and survey flights as well as test group events previously discussed are included.
The estimated budget to get FL built and running for a year is $65,149. While this may seem like a high cost, keep in mind that many of these costs are start-up costs only and will not be required in future budget proposals.
I hope you will join me to create Flight Library, and make the remote beauty of Canyonlands National Park accessible many more visitors – from the sky!
