OpenAerialMap indexes over a 1,000 scenes of satellite and drone imagery. We recently showed how OAM’s post-disaster imagery in the Philippines could be used for disaster response. The same imagery is being used to make investment decision on road projects.

The Philippines has over 200,000 kilometers of road. The national government has only mapped about 15% of the road network. There is no good map of local roads (particularly municipal and barangay roads). Philippines government agencies and international donors spend millions of dollars each year on rural road improvements. A comprehensive map of the road network would lead to better funding decisions and greater ability to monitor progress.

Imagery now available on OAM from Skyeye Inc. and the OpenRoads project is being used toward creating a comprehensive map of the country’s road network. Baybay Baybay UAV imagery provided by SkyEye and available on OAMa.tiles.mapbox.com

UAV imagery can complement inspection by engineers to quickly evaluate the road network. Crucial attributes like surface type, approximate surface quality and the width of the road can be gathered from this imagery. Where flying in engineers for regular field inspections is costly or time consuming, UAV and satellite imagery can be a cost effective way to monitor the progress of a road improvement project or to track the state of the road network between inspections.

A newly constructed road in Baybay, Philippines. Imagery provided to OAM by SkyEye Inc.

Thanks to Celina Agaton, Skyeye, and the World Bank, for coordinating to open up this imagery. Check out the imagery by going to the OAM image browser and click ‘Browse latest imagery’.