Passenger Pigeon is a project/concept for collecting aerial imagery from passenger plane windows with handheld digital cameras. To make a map, just take photos out the window of your commercial flight. Then use the free and open source [MapKnitter.org](https://mapknitter.org) to align the images with a map as soon as you land.

### Examples (click links for TMS/Geotiff downloads)

* Utah (shown below): http://publiclaboratory.org/notes/eustatic/5-10-2012/hills-have-acne-passenger-pigeon-photos-drill-sites-out-west 
* Manhattan/Brooklyn: https://mapknitter.org/map/view/newtown-creek-docsearls

### Tips for photographers

* point the camera as straight downwards as possible
* hold the camera as stably as you can - brace it against the window
* try not to sit behind the wing, where the engine exhaust blurs the air
* take note of where the photos are, if you anticipate difficulty in placing them on a map later
* check flight-tracking websites ahead of time to plan when you'll be able to take good photos (possibly during landing or takeoff, if you're allowed to use your camera)

## Questions

[questions:passenger-pigeon]

## Activities

[activities:passenger-pigeon

### Maps

<iframe style="border:none;" width="500" height="375" src="http://archive.publiclaboratory.org/leaflet/layers/?tms=https://mapknitter.org/tms/newtown-creek-docsearls/&label=newtown-creek-docsearls&lon=-73.9719954771&lat=40.6931809301&zoom=13&layers=https://mapknitter.org/tms/newtown-creek-docsearls-nrg/*NRG%20infrared"></iframe>

<iframe style="border:none;" width="500" height="375" src="http://archive.publiclaboratory.org/leaflet/?tms=https://mapknitter.org/tms/starvation-lake/&lon=-110.41528224&lat=40.1646020487&zoom=11"></iframe>

### Advanced

Some Public Lab folks have done multispectral imaging from a plane window -- see the [near-infrared camera page](/tool/near-infrared-camera) for details on how to collect/produce infrared imagery with less than $150 of equipment.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreywarren/5569549722/" title="NRG composite from out the window of airplane over Amsterdam by jeferonix, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5184/5569549722_679f35eec1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="NRG composite from out the window of airplane over Amsterdam"></a>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreywarren/5528056511/" title="Infrared vegetation analysis from a plane by jeferonix, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5299/5528056511_6da3408efd.jpg" width="500" height="380" alt="Infrared vegetation analysis from a plane"></a>