Thursday 4 December 2008

Brits use thermals this winter

Hello there map lovers,
I know it's not Florida news, but I thought you might be interested in this technological development from England. The Italian ITnews.it website reports a British company, Bluesky, is producing thermal imaging maps for cities across the UK which are viewable online.
It says: 'Visitors can search on an area using a name or postcode to view the thermal maps that are colour coded to show the amount of heat lost into the sky at night. This imagery can be viewed along with conventional aerial photography so areas of high heat loss can be identified. 'Aerial mapping company Bluesky has captured 2500 square kilometres of thermal data across Britain and expects to survey another 2,000 sqkm over the forthcoming winter months. Twenty UK towns and cities, including Derby, Slough and Luton, are currently online and more will be added as the nighttime surveys are completed. Bluesky is offering raw thermal data for sale online so that organisations can create their own colour coded and geo-referenced maps.
'To capture the thermal data, Bluesky uses an airborne thermal infrared sensor which is modified version of technology used by the military for night vision. Surveys are typically undertaken in the two hours after dark, on weekdays, during school term time, giving the best view of energy use at peak times.'
Check out the maps here

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