Bluesky International Limited

Read our latest blog by our Product Specialist, Alice Hilton, where she shares her experiences from the EAASI Summit in Athens last month. In her role as EAASI Young Ambassador, Alice had the opportunity to speak on a panel detailing her journey into the industry, engaged in discussions on the future of aerial surveying, and collaborated on expanding the Young Ambassador programme. Launched earlier this year, the EAASI Young Ambassador program aims to highlight the diverse and dynamic careers in aerial surveying and empower young professionals to become ambassadors for their field. You can read Alice's full blog and highlights from the Summit, here - https://lnkd.in/eE9-6zPG #GISIndustry #EAASISummit #EAASI #Surveying #AerialSurvey  In the image below, Alice (left) can be seen on stage with fellow Young Ambassador, Charlène NEGRELLO (right). Image credit – EAASI. 

Just two weeks to go until we will be hosting a webinar exploring how innovative geospatial environmental datasets play a supporting role for government organisations. It will focus on how to use these datasets to develop robust plans and solutions to manage existing green spaces and assets, as well as to strategically develop future strategies to improve biodiversity and access to green spaces. Alice Hilton, Product Specialist at Bluesky will be joined by experts from Aberdeenshire Council and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council to discuss real-world applications of environmental datasets, including the National Tree Map, the National Hedgerow Map, and the recently introduced 3+30+300 tool (find out more at https://lnkd.in/eCFib8hc) The links between access to green spaces and people's mental health and well-being are becoming more widely understood. Bluesky’s environmental datasets can enable targeted strategies for improving our communities. There will be a 30-minute presentation showcasing case studies of successful implementation, and an additional 15 minutes for audience Q&A. Questions will be welcomed and can be submitted via the chat function. 📅 When: January 14th, 2025 🕚 Time: 11am to 11.45am Presenters: Alice Hilton, Product Specialist at Bluesky Fiona Chirnside, Environment Planner at Aberdeenshire Council Louise Tout JP, GIS Officer at @Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council 👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/encmYm9G #environmental #BNG #planning #urbangreening #greenspaces #biodiversity

Wishing all our customers and partners a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year! 2024 has been a fantastic year for Bluesky. We launched new geospatial products and tools, announced changes to the way we work to ensure our customers get the most up-to-date and accurate data. Here’s a snapshot of what we did: Product launches · The National Hedgerow Map · 3+30+300 tool Key announcements · Awarded sole provider for Lot 1 of the Geospatial Commission’s APGB contract · 2.5cm aerial imagery now available for several cities · accionvegana to a 2-year cyclic aerial survey flying programme Events and conferences Team members have been out and about throughout the year attending and exhibiting at numerous events including GEO Business , Esri UK Conference, EAASI Summit, Association for Geographic Information (AGI) GeoCom and several Ordnance Survey-led events. Thank you so much for your business this year, and we very much look forward to working with you in 2025 and beyond. From all the team at Bluesky

Illuminated by hydro-electricity and powered by hydraulics, the National Trust site Cragside House, based in Northumberland, is considered ‘Britain's original smart home’ and for 2024 it is also home to the UK’s tallest living Christmas tree! When it comes to trees, Cragside House is known as the land of the giants. Its Pinetum (garden of non-native coniferous trees) were hand-picked specially for their giant size once at maturity and planted as saplings over 160 years ago by William and Margaret Armstrong. At 42 metres tall, a Giant Redwood, found on the edge of the Rock Garden where it dwarfs the Victorian house, has been dressed in over 2000 lights and is reportedly the height of about 10 double decker buses stacked on top of each other! The team at Cragside have used the latest technology to light the tree, using light bulbs that are efficient LED’s illuminated using portable power stations that are rechargeable, noiseless and fume-free. Our National Tree Map (NTM) captures height, location and canopy cover/extent of trees 3 metres and taller in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. See the picture below which shows NTM imagery for the trees near to Cragside House. It’s an ideal tool to support projects in sectors such as forestry, land management, planning, environmental consultancy, highway and asset management, and insurance. Image: Bluesky’s NTM imagery of the site and an artist’s impression of the Christmas tree courtesy of the National Trust. #Trees #GiantRedwood #NationalTreeMap #AerialImagery #forestry

Bluesky will be hosting a webinar next month exploring how innovative geospatial environmental datasets play a supporting role for government organisations. It will focus on how to use these datasets to develop robust plans and solutions to manage existing green spaces and assets, as well as to strategically develop future strategies to improve biodiversity and access to green spaces. Alice Hilton, Product Specialist at Bluesky will be joined by experts from Aberdeenshire Council and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council to discuss real-world applications of environmental datasets, including the National Tree Map, the National Hedgerow Map, and the recently introduced 3+30+300 tool. The links between access to green spaces and people's mental health and well-being are becoming more widely understood. Bluesky’s environmental datasets can enable targeted strategies for improving our communities. There will be a 30-minute presentation showcasing case studies of successful implementation, and an additional 15 minutes for audience Q&A. Questions will be welcomed and can be submitted via the chat function. When: January 14th, 2025 Time: 11am to 11.45am Presenters: Alice Hilton, Product Specialist at Bluesky Fiona Chirnside, Environment Planner at Aberdeenshire Council Louise Tout JP, GIS Officer at Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Register here: https://lnkd.in/encmYm9G #environmental #BNG #planning #urbangreening #greenspaces #biodiversity Image: © Bluesky International (2024); Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights (2024); © OpenStreetMap Contributors (2015)

Today is World Soil Day and the theme is ‘Caring for Soils: Measure, Monitor, Manage’ with the aim to highlight the importance of accurate soil data and information in understanding soils characteristics and supporting informed decision-making on sustainable soil management for food security. Arguably soil is one of the most important resources on earth, so much so that 7 of the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) directly or indirectly impact soil resources. These goals cover the promotion of sustainable agriculture, management of resources, reversing land degradation, and protecting land and making cities inclusive, safe and sustainable to name a few. In isolation soils maps can meet the need of a range of critical applications, however it is when they are combined with other geospatial data layers that their true value is unlocked. Bluesky has a range of specialist environmental geospatial datasets like the National Tree Map, the National Hedgerow Map, and the 3+30+300 tool that can offer insight to those working on projects such as flood management, utilities, insurance for issues like subsidence risk, environmental and green infrastructure, biodiversity and more.   Customers can also access the Cranfield University’s National Soil Map via our Mapshop. This map offers detailed soil information at 1:250,000 scale and is essential for evidence-based land management and planning across England and Wales. Visit the Mapshop here: https://lnkd.in/dfC539ky #WorldSoilDay #UrbanPlanning #GreenSpaces #environment #biodiversity #soil

Viability is aiming to address the UK’s housing crisis with an innovative AI-tool that integrates Bluesky’s high resolution aerial imagery. The tool launches at a critical time of rapid expansion for the UK’s house building industry with the Government’s recent announcement committing to the creation of 370,000 new homes each year. Viability’s AI-platform leverages cutting-edge technology, accurate property data and Bluesky’s geospatial data via its GeoStream 'data-as-a-service' offering, to deliver a SaaS platform, particularly aimed at SME home developers. Henry Mayell, Viability's co-founder and Chief Operations Officer, said: “We initially applied satellite imagery to the platform but quickly found that the quality wasn’t sufficient for our customer requirements. As a result of the feedback, we started testing aerial imagery from Bluesky which offered significant improvements in terms of image resolution and accuracy." You can read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eAFFzY-N To find out more about how GeoStream could support your work, contact Kate Bassett. #planning #housingdevelopment #newhomes #AI #aerialimagery

Our Product Specialist Alice Hilton has done a great job creating interesting and insightful content for last month's 30 Day Map Challenge. She has collated all of her posts in one easy-to-read Esri StoryMap which you can read here: https://lnkd.in/dN378A9c #30DayMapChallenge #aerialimagery #maps #3Dmap #LiDAR

At around 13% forest cover in 2020, the UK is one of the least densely forested countries in Europe. One of the many reasons why it is important we acknowledge events like this week’s The Tree Council’s National Tree Week. As the week draws to a close, we wanted to spotlight these statistics and how they serve to highlight why tree planting projects like Earthwatch Europe’s Tiny Forest are so important for creating bustling forest ecosystems in small urban spaces, additionally providing local communities and schools with all the wonderful benefits of urban trees. A year ago today, Ashby de la Zouch, the hometown to Bluesky’s HQ, got its own Tiny Forest site! These super tiny, super powerful forests aim to mimic natural forests but in a small space. They include a mix of native trees which, over time, will create a wildlife-rich woodland. The Ashby Tiny Forest was funded by Ashby Town Council as part of the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and The National Forest Company. Local primary school students, local community members, and representatives of the councils all got together to plant the trees and spend time as a community.   #NationalTreeWeek #TinyForest #woodlands #wellbeing #nature

Did you know that the UK has 123,000 ancient and veteran trees and more ancient oak trees than the rest of Europe combined? To celebrate The Tree Council's National Tree Week, we are focussing today on the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, which is believed to be the UK’s oldest tree. Estimates about the age of the tree vary between 2,000 years old to 9,000 years old, however many estimate it to be around the 5,000-year mark. Like many yews, this tree sits in a churchyard and, interestingly, the Fortingall Yew was used in funerals until the 20th century when processions are said to have passed through the arch, which had been formed over a period of time by its split trunk. Many believed the passing of the body beneath the arch was a way of guiding the righteous spirit into the Christian afterlife. The trunk of the Fortingall Yew has since split into several parts, so the yew no longer looks like a single tree. Using data from our National Tree Map™, we have captured an aerial image of the churchyard and the idealised circular shaped crown of the Fortingall Yew. #NationalTreeWeek #AerialPhotography #yews #woodland #forestry Left - (C) Bluesky International Limited, 2024.  Right - Forestry Commission, all rights reserved.