Fly4Fall: A global initiative calling on drone pilots everywhere for science

It’s late October and that means Halloween candy, changing leaves, and wool sweaters to many. It’s also time to get out to fly drones with the launch of the Fly4Fall campaign, a worldwide initiative to crowd-source 360 degree panoramic imagery for science.

The goal of the Fly4Fall campaign is to carry out a scientific survey of plants everywhere (forests, prairies, deserts and more) and to reveal the power of what the drone community can do. Volunteer drone pilots everywhere to help us by capturing 360 degree panoramic imagery of plant phenology (botany-speak for how plants look throughout the growing season). The project seeks data points from the poles to the equator. Places with leaves or where leaves have already dropped.

Fly4Fall is open to anyone with a DJI drone and an iOS device. Just download the free Hangar 360 for DJI app on your iPhone or iPad. Collect a Hangar 360 panoramic at 300 ft (100 m) over vegetation in safe areas to fly in your area (i.e. not national parks, near airports, etc…). Then, email the link to 360@dronescholars.com or tweet to #fly4fall @dronescholars to be plotted on a master map.

Detailed instructions can be found at www.Fly4Fall.com.

Fly4Fall is a joint initiative between Drone Scholars, NCSU Applied Ecology,  University of California Div. of Agriculture and Natural Resources Informatics and GIS (IGIS) program, Sinclair National Training and Certification Center, SF Drone School, CloudD8ta, Ecologia de Invasiones – CONICET, and a growing number of partners…including you!
Questions about the initiative can be directed to Drone Scholars, El Cerrito, CA. www.dronescholars.com, Email: info@dronescholars.com.