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Accident Scenes

rvrrat14

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Was wondering if anyone is/what you’re doing on accident scenes; wrecks specifically.

Am being asked to begin shooting these for local and state LE as part of Fire Dept.

I’ve tested and question whether deliverables are pics/movies, obliques, -90 camera angle only. I’m supposed to meet up with state guys and discuss. I believe they may use ESRI and was wondering if anyone has interfaced drone photos into ESRI.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks.
 
Was wondering if anyone is/what you’re doing on accident scenes; wrecks specifically.

Am being asked to begin shooting these for local and state LE as part of Fire Dept.

I’ve tested and question whether deliverables are pics/movies, obliques, -90 camera angle only. I’m supposed to meet up with state guys and discuss. I believe they may use ESRI and was wondering if anyone has interfaced drone photos into ESRI.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

I process everything in Pix4D and then import the DTM and ortho into ESRI. It is a pretty straight forward process. No real surprises. You will need the spatial analyst tool set to work on the DSM and DTM.
 
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I process everything in Pix4D and then import the DTM and ortho into ESRI. It is a pretty straight forward process. No real surprises. You will need the spatial analyst tool set to work on the DSM and DTM.
What accuracy is required for your/their measurements? I assume you use the model part of Pix4D? Any GCP’s?
 
What accuracy is required for your/their measurements? I assume you use the model part of Pix4D? Any GCP’s?

I shoot for 1/2". On bad days it strays out to 3/4". Not survey grade but close enough for government work. GCPs are used on every flight we do. The number depends upon the amount of area you are flying. 5 is the minimum number (four corners and a center point). Larger jobs (5+ acres) require more GCPs and CPs.
 
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Was wondering if anyone is/what you’re doing on accident scenes; wrecks specifically.

Am being asked to begin shooting these for local and state LE as part of Fire Dept.

I’ve tested and question whether deliverables are pics/movies, obliques, -90 camera angle only. I’m supposed to meet up with state guys and discuss. I believe they may use ESRI and was wondering if anyone has interfaced drone photos into ESRI.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks.
Accident reconstruction is a hot topic for drone uses now. We get a number of inquiries on it. Depending on your level of experience and equipment, you can get some very good results. We recently put the P4 RTK through a series of mapping tests and compared it to a regular P4 as well. We ran the same mapping job using NTRIP (with and without GCP), using the base station only (with and without GCP), putting the base station over a know survey monument (with and without GCP) and flying in regular GNSS mode. In the end, your accuracy can never be better than your GSD (ground sampling distance) and with the fixed focal length on a P4, you need to stay below 200 feet to achieve 1cm per pixel. From there, with the addition of GCPs you can really get accuracy that is acceptable to just about anyone - with the exception of the professionals who have to stamp and seal their work. As @R Martin mentioned, getting within a couple centimeters is going to get the job done nearly every time.

Processing in Pix4D gives you plenty of output choices to do your analysis in any program you need to work in.

Hope that helps...and let us know if you would like any more information. Best of luck to you.
 
FYI.


Pix4D Public Safety Workshop - Idaho Falls


These are great - and there are some recorded webinars about the same topic available. If anyone needs them, let us know. I know we have the links saved and easily accessible.
 
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These are great - and there are some recorded webinars about the same topic available. If anyone needs them, let us know. I know we have the links saved and easily accessible.


FDS I'd love to get those links if it's not too much trouble. Thanks in advance.
 
Pix4D Public Safety Webinar:

Enjoy - its excellent.
 
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Was wondering if anyone is/what you’re doing on accident scenes; wrecks specifically.

I was called out to a fatality(F-Frank) here in my district yesterday. They didn't need anything like mapping etc (already had the state LIDAR unit on scene). They just needed documentation to show the angles, lanes, and trajectory of the "cargo" during the accident. Most of the pics went into NC SHP custody but they let me keep a few for "show & tell" that don't have anything "sensitive" in the image.
1284

1285

1286
 
Initially, this is what I”m understanding they want. Just perspectives like you show. Nice work! Thanks for sharing.
 
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There was a bad wreck on 280 today, and I was wondering
if they could use aerial images just like this. I'll call the sheriff's
dept. next week to discuss.

Later!

John

If you need anything from me let me know. One thing you'll want to establish is that you understand what you can and can't "release".
 
Understood. My general rule is that the a
client's photo's are for that client only, and
I would say more so for this type of work.

Thanks again for the input.

John
 
Very soon I think you will see PD and State Troopers who are accident re-constructionist using drones to map the scene. Much more effective and efficient than what they are doing now. Right now, accident re-construction takes several hours. A drone can do it in 30 minutes with a finished product in a couple of hours using Pix4Dreact. Pix4Dreact is specifically designed for first responders.
 
Very soon I think you will see PD and State Troopers who are accident re-constructionist using drones to map the scene. Much more effective and efficient than what they are doing now. Right now, accident re-construction takes several hours. A drone can do it in 30 minutes with a finished product in a couple of hours using Pix4Dreact. Pix4Dreact is specifically designed for first responders.
I was an AR in the 90s. I would have killed for a drone.
New software. Check out Skyebrowse.
It can map the scene in 5 minutes.www.skyebrowse.com
 
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North Carolina State Highway Patrol have been using UAS for AR for over a year now.

I’ve been used on several local scenes
 
North Carolina State Highway Patrol have been using UAS for AR for over a year now.

I’ve been used on several local scenes
Some agencies are so bureaucratic and technology averse. Here in AZ I happen to know the State DPS has a drone unit, what they do is a mystery. I live in Casa Grande, between Tucson and Phoenix. Hours to clear the crash site on I-10 every time with long traffic jams.

As an experienced collision investigator and collision reconstructionist, I'd get those tow trucks and ambulances on scene in munutes, map the scene with a drone in 5 and reopen that freeway in 30 minutes. Wish I could figure out what's the hold up. Just put a P4P on a couple of district squad cars and be done with it. Oh to be king of the world for just one day... ;)
 

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