UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

SCHOOL OF MINES AND GEOSCIENCE (SoMG)

DEPARMENT OF GEOSCIENCE

AERIAL MAPPING OF UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM USING A DRONE

COURSE CODE: GY 245

COURSE TITLE: GIS AND REMOTE SENSING

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: DR.ELISANTE MSHIU

TYPE OF WORK: PRACTICAL REPORT

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2023/2024

STUDENT CREDENTIALS;

NAME: ANIPHA RAJABU HASSANI

REG NO: 2022-04-02397
 ABSTRACT
This report is about aerial mapping of the University of Dar es salaam using drone. The aim of
the work was to collect aerial images of the whole area using drone and process them by using
software to produce a single image (Orthomap)
Different instruments were used; Drone which mounted with a sensor camera for taking images,
computer for installing different software for planning the mission as well as processing the images
to produce orthomap, Phone or tablets were also used for installation of some software which were
android supported, checklist which was used to verify if the drone conditions are safe to fly or not
General planning of the work was done by reconnaissance of the place, selection of drone and
software selection. Mission for the drone was planned using different software; Google Earth
Pro,Pix4d capture and mission planner which were used to set the traverse for the drone to fly and
some commands such as elevation of flight, overlap and the speed of flight
Flying the drone was done after some preparations to be done that is learning how to fly the drone,
checking permission permits and rules of the airspace at the place, assessing our batteries,
assessing if there was enough storage in the computer, drone and camera, as well as conducting
risk assessment and use preflight checklist
The obtained raw data (images) were processed using a software called Agisoft, which detects all
pixels from all images, common pixels along overlap and used them to join all images together to
form a single image which is the orthomap. The orthomap was then digitized to obtain the map of
University of Dar es salaam
The digitized map was used to design the project of establishment of sitting slabs around and near
colleges and schools as well as hostels so as to facilitate comfortable environments for students’
personal studies and discussions around those areas
Conclusively, the whole process aimed at showing how GIS and Remote Sensing can be used to
collect raw data and process it into a useful and meaningful product that is map in our case, so that
we can use those products to solve various challenges we face within our surroundings.
 INTRODUCTION
Mapping is the process of creating a visual representation of an area, object or concept using
symbols and the colors to depict specific information. Aerial mapping is the process of capturing
images of the Earth’s surface from an aircraft (drone) or a satellite and use the images to create
detailed visual representation of specific area for various purposes such as urban planning,
environmental monitoring and agriculture. Drones (UVAs) are the aircrafts that can be controlled
by ground pilots through ground control stations (GCS) and they are flown without a pilot on
board.
Aerial mapping using drone is the application of GIS and Remote Sensing in the sense that our
obtained images are geo tagged, also the operation of drones involves autopilot system which is
the remote sensing. Another important thing to be recognized is that drone in this activity is just
a platform in which the full frame sensor cameras are fitted to take the images as the drone moves
throughout the traverse that it has been planned.
Area mapping using a drone is important in the sense that the images obtained are more informative
than the ground pictures, it takes a short time to map a large area with more descriptions compared
to the ground mapping and also drone can be can give the images of the remote areas where ground
mapping could be limited to reach the place. Aerial images obtained from sensors mounted on
drones can also be used in a photography and filming, agriculture and album planning.
The activity was done in our university using the short breather after first semester, in the short
cause of aerial mapping and survey using drones. Under their supervision of the course instructor,
the students learned on how to fly the drone and obtain the data which may be processed to produce
a map (Ortho map) of the area.
 METHODOLY
Tools that were used in Aerial mapping of University of Dar es salaam using drone
1. Drone: was used as a platform to mount sensor camera for taking images at a height above
Earth’s surface
2. Full frame sensor camera: used to take images while drone flying at the shuttle speed
3. A Computer: is used for installation of various software planning as well as processing the
acquired data to produce the product (Ortho map)
4. Phone or tablet: for installation of some software which are only android supported
5. Software
• For general Planning : Google Earth Pro
• For mission planning : Mission planner, Pix4d capture
• For data processing and analysis: Agisoft

6. Check list: For verifying the condition of drone if it’s safe for flight before flying the drone
 GENERAL PLANNING
This involves general exploration of the area and some other planning that are made before
planning the mission using software. The following are the general planning that were done while
doing aerial mapping of the University of Dar es Salaam.

Reconnaissance of the area

This involved the general check of the features found over the targeted area University of Dar es
salaam .We checked on the elevations of the features found such as buildings and towers. This is
useful in planning your mission so that to avoid your drone to crash over the obstacles, that is
elevation to be planned for the drone to fly must base on highest object found in the place or area
of the interest. Reconnaissance also may involve checking the direction of the wind and weather
conditions of the area if they are favorable for drone flight or not.

Establishment of ground control points

Ground control points are identifiable points on Earth surface that are used as reference points in
various geospatial technologies such as photogeometry, remote sensing and surveying. They are
established by surveyors and they are known. But since our area had no GCPs we were supposed
to establish them by measuring the points that are visible on grounds such as zebras by using a
high accurate GPS (differential GPS) but due to failure of accessing differential GPS we failed to
establish our own GCPs.
The GCP are required for georeferancing our ortho map after processing our data. Georeferancing
is the pinning of a map to its correct position by using established GCP on the ground.

Drone selection
There are different types of drones as discussed below, but there must be selection of drone
according to the size of the area as well as ability of the drone and its energy consumption rate, the
capability of its battery as well as easiness in maneuvering it.
Types of Drones
• Multi rotor drones
These are drones that consist many rotors which are set in pairs and each in every pair rotates in
opposite direction to the other. The more the rotors in the multi rotor drones the more the weight
and the power consumption rate. These drones have shorter endurance in air and they are fitted
with vision sensors which sense obstacles.
By this description of these types of drones we can see that they will only be favorable in coverage
of small areas as well as the area with relative low speed winds

Multi Rotor Drones

 • Fixed wing drones
These are types of drones with one rigid wing that is designed to look and work like an airplane
providing the lateral lift rather than vertical lift rotors. They have only two rotors which are always
directed forward hence these drones need small amount of energy only to move forward which
makes them energy efficient. They move a long distance and cover large area. For these drones to
take off there must be a mechanical push at an angle since it has no vertical lift and it will move
at a certain angle until it reaches its elevation of flight then it goes horizontally. On landing it needs
a lot of clear space as it lands like an airplane. Due to this description, we can conclude that
although it consumes small amount of energy still it will move in a couple of hours for it to cover
a large area and also it is very risky in landing and not easy to maneuver it while taking off.

Fixed Wing Drone

 • Fixed wing hybrid drones (VTOL)
These types of drones are called hybrid as they are a combination of fixed wing as well as vertical
takeoff and landing as multi-rotor drones do. This is in more resemblance with fixed wings but its
advantage over fixed wing drones is that they can vertically take off and land which reduce the
risks during takeoff and landing but they cover a large area and low energy consumption as fixed
wing drones, they are also very stable in wind and easy to operate from the ground.

Fixed Wing Hybrid Drone

• Single rotor drones

These are drones with only one propeller as in helicopter. These are strong and durable. It is more
efficient by having long blades which are more like a spinning wing than a propeller. They are
favorable for Hover heavy payload but they are complex and expensive and they are not stable
making it risk during landing and long spinning blades may be dangerous.
 Single Rotor Drone

According to the types of drones mentioned and their descriptions, our best option was fixed wing
hybrid drone since we covered a large area. Also, it is stable in wind, easy to operate and low
energy consumption also it does not need large space for operation

Software selection
There is so many software that can be used to plan and process data that can be used for aerial
mapping using drones but only few software of our choice was used. The basis of selection of this
software were priceless software, easy to access and the type of drones we used. All software that
was used were priceless and some were even able to be accessed using Android phones that is
Pix4d capture. The software used were Google Earth Pro, Pix4d capture and mission planner for
planning the mission and Agisoft for processing the data.
 MISSION PLANNING
This is the creation of traverse and other commands that we want our drone to follow while
executing its journey. The following steps were done in different software;
Google Earth Pro
This is the software used for establishing the boundaries within the area that we want to map. The
boundaries were created throughout the University of Dar es salaam. In this software we were also
supposed to pin our GCPs in the area but since the area had no GCPs and we failed to establish
our own GCPs, we didn’t pin them. The created boundaries were saved in the software and sent to
the phone for more planning using other software Pix4d capture. Google Earth pro saves the files
in form of KMZ (compressed file that contains geographic data and other information related to
Google Earth or Google Maps)
Pix4d capture
This is another software for mission planning. The KMZ file sent from Google Earth Pro to the
phone was opened with Pix4d capture in the KML form. This software allows us to choose the
type of drone we are using, choose the type of the mission in which we used polygon mission.
Then we created our mission by creating the traverse lines of the area to be covered by our drone
and since we used to fix the wing hybrid drone which needs more distance to execute turning we
exceeded the traverse lines some meters out of our boundary to allow space for turning of our
drone
Another aspect in planning was to ensure the ending point in your traverse is near the operator of
the drone so that the drone couldn’t end the mission far away from the operator Also we set the
elevation for drone flight to be 200 meters above the sea level in accordance to the heights of
features found in our area. Also, we set the overlap of 70% this is the extent to which two
consecutive pictures could interfere to each other, this helps us to do not miss any kind of data
from our area
After planning our mission in this software our mission was to send to another software called the
mission planner which its installation is only suitable in computer.

Mission planner
This is another software for planning it can be used to plan the mission as Pix4d capture but in a
computer. The other advantage of this software is that it can well display our mission while the
drone is executing its mission by showing all details about the conditions of the drone while in air
such as battery level remaining, speed of drone, if the camera is taking images or not, the position
of a drone in the mission planned at the time, obstacles encountered and if the drone works as how
it was commanded by the mission. The reason for planning the mission before flying it is to ensure
that drone takes images at their appropriate area and time as well as to ensure that the drone is
flying safely that is avoiding crushing against obstacles.
 DRONE FLIGHT AND DATA ACQUSITION
Flight preparations
There are some tips that should be done before flying your drone, they are as follows;
• Learn how to fly your drone safely
Every drone has its own way to fly so the operator of drone should learn how to fly the kind of
drone safely before, especially if he or she never flew it before. This involves observation of
manuals and understanding them well
• Check your permission permits and the rules of airspace at the place
The operator should ensure that they have the license provided by TCAA as well as remotely
operator certificates MOD permit from the Ministry of Defense and drawn insurance. Also, the
operator should now the rules of this air space at the particular area, for example some areas are
restricted areas like airports or military bases.
• Assess if you have enough batteries
Before starting your mission, you should ensure you have more than one battery for emergency as
well as in accordance to the length of time your drone will execute the mission. Also, you should
assess battery before the start of the mission for safe fly of your drone.
• Determine if you have enough storage
Enough storage is required in drone, camera and computer. Check the storage space remaining
before starting your flight and check it frequently after starting the flight. Have many backups for
emergency.
• Conduct risk assessment and use a pro flight checklist
You should identify hazards and how to encounter them. The possible hazards in a drone flight
may be weather conditions such as rain and strong winds, high objects and traffic. Also determine
the like hood of the hazards and their impacts, some hazards can’t be overcome, hence it’s
necessary to cancel the mission. Make sure you have everything required for the flight. Someone
who is not flying the drone should do check list before flying your drone.
After the checklist the drone was flown and it took three hours to finish its mission. And all details
about the drone in air was observed in the software, mission planner as explained before. After the
drone accomplish the mission, the operator should check if there is any missing data before leaving
the area to avoid unnecessary return and the costs. Things to check are picture quality, picture
quantity, picture coverage and overlap quality. After acquisition of the data, the data were
processed to form an orthomap by using a software
 DATA PROCESSING
The obtained raw data were processed by using a software called Agi soft. This software allows
us to add the images obtained and it align all the images to form one image named Ortho map.
Images are made of small units called pixels (picture elements) which represents a single point in
2-dimension grid that makes up the image. They are usually squares arranged in rows and columns
to form an image. The overlap of the images is the one that helps the joining of those images to
form a single image
The software will identify all the points in the images and identify the common points (pixels).
Those points that overlap act as a reference for joining one image with another. The small overlap
will result to the missing of some details also too large overlap will make us use a lot of time to
execute our mission we need a reasonable overlap
Georeferencing
This is the process done in the same software Agisoft of which they produced orthomap is pinned
to the actual or true position by using GCPs. But since we do not have GCPs but our images are
geo tagged our map will not be positioned far away from the actual position, there will be just a
small error.
The obtained ortho mosaic map after data processing
 DIGITIZATION OF THE MAP
The product obtained after processing our photos was digitized by using a software known as
ArcGIS Desktop 10.5
• Digitization
Refers to the process of converting a physical map into a digital format, allowing it to be
stored, manipulated and displayed electronically. This involves scanning or tracing the
map’s features such as roads, rivers and landmarks, and converting them into digital data
points. The resulting digital map can be used in various applications such as geographic
information systems (GIS), navigation systems and online mapping services. Digitization
of maps allows for easier access, sharing and analysis of map data and it plays a crucial
role in fields such as urban planning, environmental management and disaster response.

• ArcGIS Desktop 10.5

ArcGIS is the package of software such as ArcMap 10.5, Arc globe 10.5, Arc scene10.5,
ArcGIS document defragmenter, ArcGIS administrator and Arc catalog 10.5, performing
different tasks. Among this software the work we did consent with only two of them
which are Arc map 10.5 and Arc catalog 10.5. With ArcMap10.5 you can open and use
ArcMap document to explore information, navigate around your map document, turn
layers on and off, you can also print maps from simplest to very complicated cartography
and also you can compile and edit GIS datasets. With Arc catalog, we can browse and
find geographic database to add your map record, view and manage data sets, search for
and discover GIS data, define, exports and import geo database, data models and data
sets, organize and manage your geo data base and ArcGIS document

How was digitization done?

Digitization of our map was done by using a software known as ArcMap which is one
among the bunch of software from ArcGIS desktop 10.5. This software consists of catalog
window which assist us to access and manage our data from our PC. First, we had to
create a folder in local disk D which can preserve our data even if PC faces damages (for
safety of our work), in this folder is where maps and other data which are to be processed
using ArcMap are put, also is where we create our folder which every information added
or edited in Arcmap will be found. This folder has to be connected to our software,
ArcMap using catalog by clicking the icon known as ‘connect to folder’ and after that
every editing done in the Arcmap are found in the folder we connected and also, we can
take map from the folder and add it to the software for editing. Also, you have to title
your work in Arcmap in the way that it is easy to remember and to organize your work
Our map was transferred from the software we produced it (Agisoft) to the ArcMap in the
form of tiff because you cannot edit anything in Arcmap if the map is in the form of JPG,
also before starting editing we have to customize some Geoprocessing operations from
Arc Toolbox which may enable our work, such operations are; Editor, tools, standard and
georeferencing if your map requires to be georeferenced first. But our map needed not the
process of georeferencing since it consists of spatial data which are well known and
recognized.

Another important thing to consider in doing your work is the coordinate systems to be
used. We choose coordinate system according to the location as well as the size of the
area you are digitizing. We have international coordinate system but also localized
coordinate systems. If you are digitizing a large area that is worldwide the best coordinate
system is the international coordinate system WGS 84 because it will produce small error.
On the other hand, if you are digitizing a particular area of the world, it is better to use
localized coordinate system in accordance to the place you are digitizing. For our case the
map of University of Dar es salaam is within a localized East African coordinates system
known as Arc 1960, so we used Arc1960 as our coordinate system.

Again, all coordinate systems can be in the form of either geographic coordinate system
or projected coordinate system. Geographic coordinate system present the positions of a
point in angular units (degrees, minutes and seconds), it considers the earth’s curvature
while projected coordinate system assume their positions of places as if they are on the
flat earth’s surface. The choice of using geographic coordinate system or projected
coordinate system again depends on location and size of the area you are working with.
If your area is small that can be in a certain zone, we can use projected coordinate system
which will be more accurate but if your area is large that does not fit in zone it is better to
use geography coordinate system which will be more accurate than projected coordinate
system.

Generally, our area of interest is found in UTM zone 37 south of the equator so the
coordinates system used was Arc 1960 UTM Zone 37 S and the units used were UTM.
To set coordinate systems in your software you go to the layers, you right click it and go
to the properties then coordinate systems and set it in accordance to your choice and also
to set the units of your coordinate systems you go again to layers and right click it then
go to properties then general and then choose the units you need

In digitizing our work, we need to open various share files for different features we are
digitizing. These shape files are created in catalog within your created folder in which all
editing details will be found the shape files opened can be vector point, vector lines or
vector polygons. We use vector points if our features are very small that they seem like
points (cannot be seen as polygons anymore). For example, in the map of Tanzania, cities
are observed as points. Other examples are airports and mountain peaks. We use vector
lines for those features which are presented as lines in the map such as roads, power lines,
rivers and railways. We use vector polygons for those features which are well observed
and shows a polygon structure such as schools, buildings, boundaries, lakes and oceans.

From our map of University of Dar es salaam, the scale of the map is large scale that
many features are clear observed as polygons, so we used the vector polygons to digitize
most of the features such as hospitals, boundaries, hostels, colleges and schools, libraries,
cafeterias, Mosque and church. We also used the vector lines to digitize roads.

In every of our shape file, we had to edit the coordinate systems to align it with the
coordinate system that we have set in layers that is Arc 1960 UTM zone 37 S. After
creating shape file, we go to the editor and start editing our features, after finishing
editing, we go again to the editor to save our edits and stop editing. These procedures
were repeated for every shape file

The above procedures enabled us to arrive to the product of our digitized map of
University of Dar es salaam and below is the map I digitized myself using ArcMap
software
. Digitized map with the background
Digitized map with no background
 SUGGESTED PROJECT
In accordance to the obtained UDSM map we were able to suggest various projects which
can solve various challenges we face in our university and I suggested the establishment of
enough and standard sitting slabs in areas around and near the colleges and schools as well
as hostels due to the following reasons;

▪ There are no places to wait for the coming sessions especially if sessions have
long interval of time in between. This may force someone to go home or hostel
and then come back during the session time. Also, the libraries may be far away
from one’s college if ones have to go there and study until the time of his or her
session.

▪ The library is the silent place which means it is not favorable for the student
discussions. We need sitting slabs which will favor discussions and other kinds
of studies.

▪ The existing sitting slabs are not in standard, most are open at the top that is not
favorable during rain seasons and during the day due to the sun radiations. Also,
they lack charging cables for those who are using laptops.

▪ Most of the hostels have no sitting slabs or they have only few of them. Also,
it is little bit difficult to use our rooms for discussion due to the variation of our
social and religious culture especially if it involves students of different
genders.
The establishment of enough and standard sitting slabs will reduce complications of finding areas
for discussions, personal studies as well as places to rest while waiting for their coming sessions
or lectures. It will also help to save time that we could waste on finding places to sit for discussions
or studies. Also, in hostels it will help us to adhere with everyone’s social and religious culture.
The sitting slabs to be established do not supposed to be far away from the targeted areas that is
venues, colleges and schools and hostels. They have to be within 20 meters. The number of sitting
slabs to be established depends on the average number of students within the area and the available
space to establish those sitting slabs because the project has to be established on the areas with no
buildings that are not supposed to destruct any present building so as to minimize costs. In that
case the places shown in the map with sitting slabs less than 10 is either because of the small
number of the students’ movements around that area or a small area of the place to establish many
sitting slabs while, places with established sitting slabs more than 20 in the map indicates large
size of the available space to establish the project as well as large number of student movements
around the area.
The above project was presented on the produced and digitized map of UDSM as shown below

Digitized map with background showing the established project

Digitized map with no background showing established project
 CONCLUSION
This work shows us one of the ways in which GIS and Remote Sensing can be applied to collect
raw data to process the obtained raw data and obtain the product which can be used to solve various
challenges we face within our surroundings.
Also, it shows the way GIS and Remote Sensing simplify the work of data collection of the place
compared to the field observations method which takes a lot of time and it is limited to some areas
but the use of drones helps us to cover a large area within a short time and it is not limited.
Generally, its summaries the main principles of GIS; Data acquisition and Data processing in
which data is acquired by using sensors mounted on the platform in our case drone and then data
processing is done using computer to obtain product which is useful to solve various challenges in
our environment.