Aerial Photography for Land Use Planning

1. Aerial Photography for Land Use Planning Adding Context and Data to Land Use Plans

3. Land Use Planning – What is it? • Camp (1974): “The process of organizing the development and use of lands and their resources in a manner that will best meet the needs of the people over time, while maintaining flexibility for a dynamic combination of resource output for the future.” • Emphasis here on human needs. • But…how do planners “best meet the needs of the people”?

4. Urban growth…where is this?? Does it meet people’s needs?

5. Other definitions… • Canadian Institute of Planners: “[Land use] planning means the scientific, aesthetic, and orderly disposition of land, resources, facilities and services with a view to securing the physical, economic and social efficiency, health and well-being of urban and rural communities.” • Also emphasizes human use of the land but makes more specific assumptions about people’s needs (e.g., aesthetics)

6. Orderly? Aesthetic?

7. And…planning can also focus on environmental considerations. • Conservation planning is a natural resource problem- solving and management process. The process integrates ecological (natural resource), economic, and social considerations to meet private and public needs. This approach, which emphasizes identifying desired future conditions, improves natural resource management, minimizes conflict, and addresses problems and opportunities. (NRCS: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov)

8. Balancing energy development with natural values?

9. Planning is a broad field. • Diverse scales: Town planning, urban planning and design, regional planning, territorial cohesion (trans-national planning) • Diverse emphases: Urban growth vs. environmental protection; rural development vs. conservation planning; etc. • Diverse disciplines: Geography, engineering, ecology, conservation biology, sociology, economics, etc. • Diverse technologies: Range from simple human interactions to complex decision support systems • Today, all of the above are supported by spatial data

10. Phases of Land Use Planning • Set Goals and Objectives • Inventory and Analysis • Development of the land use plan(s) and alternatives • Communication of Ideas/Results • Implementation of the plan • Also can monitor land use change in a planning context

11. From http://www.sahtulanduseplan.com

12. Value of Aerial Photography for Planning • Air photos are easily interpreted by trained and untrained participants • Air photos can be collected at relatively low cost • Air photos usually have sufficient spatial resolution for planning-level analyses • Air photos have been collected historically for many areas and can provide a basis for looking at long term change • Air photos can be combined with other spatial data if properly geo-corrected

13. Where does aerial photography fit in? • Provides context for stakeholders • Data creation for spatial analysis • Current and past land use • Current and past land cover • Current and past distribution of key features (roads, buildings, rivers, utilities, etc. • Spatial relationships among key features (e.g., distance from housing developments to schools) • Context for outcome scenarios

14. Time Lapse Images of Global Change

15. Mapping with aerial photos • Delineation of features that are critical to the planning process • Land cover • Locations of roads, houses, parks, etc. • Base for stakeholder digitizing of management areas • Background for other data layers to provide map context for stakeholders and planners

17. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (Slide by Dr. William Stiteler, Cornell University)

18. Inventory and analysis • Summary of amount (e.g., acreage) of various land uses and resources • Analysis of spatial arrangement (proximity, contiguity, etc.) of land use and resources • Designation of planning requirements (e.g., riparian buffer zones, etc.)

20. Forest Inventory for Forest Planning

21. Creating the land use plan • Identifying alternatives and evaluating their impacts • Can include things like risk factors associated with various planning scenarios (e.g., landslide potential) • Changes in land cover and their effects • Aesthetic impact of various scenarios • Effects of alternatives on quality of life (e.g., distance to schools, shopping, etc.) • Effects of various scenarios on cost for services, etc.

22. Buffering of roads delimited using aerial photography (Slide by Dr. William Stiteler, Cornell)

23. Using air photos as a base for modeling development (From “The Smarter Land Use Development” project)

24. Communication of ideas and results • Communication with stakeholders • Collection of stakeholder input • Communication among planners • Communication between planners and stakeholders • All is in a spatial context and aerial photography is a common basis for discussion • Public hearings • Communication with law makers

25. Collaboration of stakeholders using air photos for context (From “The Smarter Land Use Development” project)

27. Chesapeake Bay – Historic Development (Courtesy USGS)

28. Case Study: Wyoming Private Lands • Work done in 1990s at the SDVC (now WyGISC) by Jim Oakleaf and Wendy Berelson • The problem: Family ranches in Wyoming are being sold to developers by ranchers who are land rich but cash poor. • Results in loss of “way of life” generations old • Causes fragmentation of wildlife habitat • Can be detrimental to other ranchers adjacent to developed ranches

29. Wyoming Open Lands (WOL) Late 1990’s the a nonprofit called the Wyoming Open Lands was created to address this problem. • Allowed landowners to cooperate to create private land plans collaboratively with other landowners in their area • Voluntary program that resulted in legally binding plans

30. Development in Jackson

31. Methodology • Goal: Get landowners to designate areas that they would like to see protected from development (whether on public or private lands) • Use GIS to create spatial depictions of each landowner’s preferences • Combine preferences and negotiate to a mutually agreeable plan.

32. Area used for pilot project

33. GIS Development • GIS interface had to be non-technical so that it could be used by the landowners • Base layers included hydrography, roads, PLSS units, land ownership, homesitesand aerial photos. • Aerial photos were 1994 NAPP photos • Homesites were digitized using the air photos • Air photos provided context to the landowners

34. Landowner designations • Landowners had to be able to locate their land and recognize features throughout the study area • Landowners could use tools to draw polygons designating areas that they considered high, moderate and low priority for protection from development • Air photos provide the visual data that allowed them to do this in conjunction with other spatial data.

35. Example of landowner preferences

36. Data Processing • All of the individual landowner designations were then summed up to create a map of collaborative agreement. • Areas were color coded to indicate the degree of possible conflict depending on overall agreement or disagreement of individuals about specific places.

37. Summary map showing amount of group collaboration

38. Aerial photography played a vital role in this process both for providing landowners with an intuitive way to designate areas and by facilitating creation of necessary data layers. • Required very little special training for the landowners.

39. Summary • Aerial photography is of sufficient spatial resolution for many land use planning tasks • Easily interpreted by stakeholders • Easily collected to meet specific planning needs • Often available historically • Can contribute to all phases of planning