An inexpensive way to get
pictures from high in the sky is now available at the University of Virginia.
The scholars' lab staff is
using a weather balloon and a camera to take photographs in the area, including
a parking lot that has been transformed into a mural.
The "Hello Pluto,
Good-bye Kitty" painting is based off Edgar Allen Poe's short story,
"The Black Cat."
UVA GIS Specialist Kelly
Johnston said, "So much of this kind of information typically is done by
big organizations with lots of money for budgets to hire airplanes and
helicopters to do this over a very large geographical area, but this puts the
technology in the hands of anyone."
The GIS specialists recently
wrapped up photographing an archeological dig at Monticello. They also captured the rally for honor in June
for UVA President Teresa Sullivan.
