It was very warm at the same time, which affected the autonomous features of their hardware and software. The rain did delay some of the planned flights, but as the team worked across multiple days, they were able to mitigate the impact of this. Finally, they traveled by boat to reach the target areas, trying to carry as little equipment as possible to make their transit easier. They traveled from Panama city to Gardi Sugdub, taking several hours across main roads as well as rural mountain routes.
Surveying remote locations in Panamaīefore the Flying Labs team could even start surveying, they had to first access the locations to be mapped. The team received remarkable support from the locals who helped guide them through the new areas being mapped, including island walking recognition and providing transportation by car and boat. The Flying Labs team worked with the Gardi Sugdub Committee, who helped make decisions and keep the local population informed about progress. New locations are being proposed to relocate the indigenous population Additionally, orthomosaics are easy to interpret, making them helpful in decision-making processes as they can be presented to large groups with no surveying knowledge and convey helpful information. The team aimed to generate orthomosaics, which are a great tool for visualizing and measuring distances or areas over a space of land. They had to pay attention to weather forecasting, as this is during the Panama rainy season. They traveled between the sites, spreading data collection across two days in October 2019. They frequently had difficult access due to the terrain not having good infrastructure. Panama Flying Labs surveyed several different areas which were spaced out from each other. Many indigenous tribes or groups are forcefully relocated or not given a chance to influence the decisions made by planning authorities. This meant the affected population had a say in how the work was handled and could provide their own insight, which is incredibly valuable for understanding the logistics of potentially moving a large population. The surveying project was launched by the Inter-American Development Bank, which kept in contact with the Guna. Including the local population was critical to the success of the project The Guna live across several islands, but offering this relocation gives them the chance to also expand, as the population is growing too large for their current home. It is difficult to relocate a population, especially indigenous ones that have close ties to the land. This is first and foremost, a delicate project. PIX4Dmapper was the ideal tool for this project as it is well-suited to detailed surveying projects.
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Flying Labs was part of this land surveying project, using photogrammetry software to assess terrain on the island and on the mainland. There is a large project aiming to relocate the population to the mainland, and the authorities needed to look at available land to see where the Gunas could be relocated as well as assess the current state of the largest islands. As a result, there is unsustainable resource pressure on the islands. The island chain is sinking under rising sea levels while at the same time the population is growing. Gardi Sugdub is already overpopulated, and residents need new spaces The island is part of the San Blas Archipelago, where the majority of the Gunas live, and is known as the Comarca Guna Yala. Towards the end of 2019, they worked on a project with the community of Gardi Sugdub, an island close to the Panama mainland. They are used to projects that analyze climate change’s impact. As a group they offer training and assistance in work to do with drones and data. Panama Flying Labs, hosted by the Universidad Tecnológica de Panama, has a team of 5 people working at the university alongside a network of volunteers. They needed to analyze the land use as well as plan for potential relocation to the mainland. This is what happened with the Guna population in Panama, who are facing rising sea levels at the same time as overpopulation on a small island. Some of the people most vulnerable to ecological changes are indigenous populations, who often live in delicate balance with their local environment. Although many countries are transitioning to green energy and repurposing old fossil fuel plants, others are having to face climate change already. Some are seeing more extreme weather events like hurricanes, whilst others are experiencing rising sea levels. How can drone mapping help an overpopulated island threatened by climate change off the Panama coast? Enter PIX4Dmapper.Ĭlimate change is affecting countries all around the world differently.