DINOSAURS TO COASTLINES TO CLASS: TRANSITIONING SFM POINT CLOUD RESEARCH TO AN UNDERGRADUATE GEOSCIENCE CLASS

Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry utilizing ground and airborne imagery is becoming a mainstay for detailed topographic modelling, visualization, measurement and replication in the Geosciences. For example, paleontologists utilize standardized methods to optimize/measure the relief of dinosaur tracks, geomorphologists employ SfM to characterize and perform change detection analyses (e.g. coastal erosion/deposition between imaging campaigns), while others derive geometric properties (e.g. strike/dip) and create 3D prints of sites and artifacts. These approaches utilize a variety proprietary and open software that span image capture/adjustments (e.g. Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop), SfM (e.g. Agisoft Metashape), point/mesh editing (e.g. MeshLab, Blender), measurement (e.g. Cloud Compare), and integration within geospatial analyses (e.g. ArcGIS). Drone imagery and modeling is increasingly important along with mission planning and, for some, integration with server-side software such as Drone-Deploy. All reflect rapidly evolving technologies that provide exciting opportunities for academics and students alike. Moreover, these activities are amenable to undergraduate students in guided research and/or embedding in coursework that use student cellphone (or other) imagery.

This poster illustrates efforts to extend SfM research on dinosaur tracks and coastal change to a new undergraduate course on imaging, model construction, and associated analyses. First offered during COVID times and now an approved advanced geoscience elective this course uses of a mix of educational strategies (limited lecture presentations/tests, student activities/reports, a culminating poster assignment). Activity reports involve in-class computing (packages listed above) that require students to build brief text and supporting figures that are revised after grading for inclusion in a culminating scientific poster that could also be submitted to Eastern’s undergraduate conference. To date activities have focused on imaging/image management, model construction, scaling/georeferencing, exporting/manipulating point cloud/mesh data, building 3D print files, change detection, and simple map-analyses (some through separate practicum coursework).