Bluesky Aerial Imagery Helps Visualise National Grid Cabling

Aerial photography, supplied by Bluesky, is helping National Grid explore the potential for underground cabling works in the UK's Peak District National Park. As part of a wider landscape and visual impact assessment project, SLR Consulting purchased the Bluesky imagery to enhance a large-scale virtual reality model of the area around a former rail tunnel. Models of this type have previously been used by National Grid to help explore routing options and site planning for new power lines and substations and the technology has now been chosen to help communicate proposals for underground cabling works in the Woodhead Rail Tunnel on the north eastern edge of the park.

“Our model demonstrates the fine detail of the cabling works,” said Peter McGuckin, Principal at SLR Consulting. “However with the addition of the Bluesky imagery, the interactive model really comes into its own as a powerful means of showing the landscape context and the minimal effect the proposed works will have on the environment.”

SLR Consulting, a multi-disciplinary consultancy providing worldwide environmental science and engineering expertise from a network of offices in the UK and North America, purchased the Bluesky imagery to enhance their virtual reality model of the area around the tunnel. SLR referenced the map accurate digital image files, covering approximately 45 square miles, to existing project information using their geographical information system (GIS), ArcView. The processed files were then passed through AutoCAD and Photoshop to preserve the original image quality before being draped over an Ordnance Survey terrain model in 3D Studio Max. Finally the processed aerial photography was visualised interactively within SLR’s Virtual Reality software.

“The resulting real time fly-through is of amazing quality and conveys an excellent impression of the landscape which characterises the Peak District around Woodhead. The trueness of the colours within the Bluesky imagery also helps us decide the right balance of paint colour and material finishes for new structures ensuring they blend with the natural landscape from every viewpoint,” concluded McGuckin.

Bluesky is a UK-based specialist in aerial imaging and remote sensing data collection and processing. An internationally recognised leader with projects extending around the globe, Bluesky has unrivalled expertise in the creation of seamless, digital aerial photography and 3D landscape/cityscape visualisations. Bluesky also runs a national mapping centre, providing digital maps, site plans, satellite imagery, aerial photography and ultra-high resolution imagery of cities and towns.

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