2,500 Aerial Pictures Of Austrian Floods

The challenge was to get airborne as soon as possible after peak flood, in order to capture the full extent of the flooding. The pictures were taken with an IGI DigiCam mid-size format digital camera. It was important to be in the air as soon as the rain and low clouds had dispersed enough to provide the flight altitude and light conditions which enable reasonable pictures to be taken.

The air crew succeeded in getting airborne on the morning of the first day. 2,500 pictures were taken and post-processed immediately after landing. The pictures in TIF format - identified either by postal address or by cross-referencing the flight trajectory with a Google Earth background - were available 2 hours after landing. The geo-referencing of the images took 5 days processing time.

The material can be accessed by users in insurance companies, the Flood and Avalanche Control Sections, governmental departments etc., as well as by the media.