Recently, Lake Pontchartrain suffered from a harmful algae bloom. This bloom was spotted along the north shore and confirmed and monitored by aircraft flyovers. Planes aren't the only way to capture great aerial imagery!

Public Lab is hosting a workshop exploring low cost, do it yourself balloon and kit mapping and near infrared imagery. These monitoring techniques provide simple ways to explore and understand what's going on in a place at a given time. They can help us understand changes in landscapes, and can help capture the stories and images of time sense events and stressors like the recent algae bloom.

When: Saturday May 12th, 10am-2pm

Where: We will meet at 10am in front of the parking lot at Fontainebleau Beach in Fontainebleau State park. For free entry, tell the ranger at the gate that you are here for the mapping workshop with Public Lab.

In the afternoon we will be heading to the Causeway Branch Public Library for lunch and a session on building maps from our aerial images.

What: We will spend the morning learning and practicing balloon and kite mapping and near infrared photography over the marshes. In the afternoon, we will enjoy lunch and share a work session building maps with the images we collected in the morning.

Notes: Wear clothing that is comfortable for indoor and outdoor activity, sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and walking shoes advised! If you have a laptop computer you can bring, please do so!

For questions email stevie@publiclab.org