Aerial photography over St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire launched
Thursday saw the first flights over St. Eustatius to take high-quality aerial photos of the island. Several flights will be carried out in December and January, to take aerial photos and altitude measurements of St. Eustatius, Saba, and Bonaire. The Public Entities and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations took the initiative for this, with the aim of improving the registration of addresses and buildings on the islands. Together, they are working towards one central register for each island in which addresses and buildings are registered.
One central register for addresses and buildings
In a central register, aerial photos are used to determine the exact location of an address or building on a map. By afterwards registering all data of addresses and buildings in the system only once, the data become more reliable. It creates less doubt about the correct registration of the location, house number or spelling of an address, for example. Official authorities are taking a first step with a future central register to improve the quality of data in registrations.
Altitude maps
In addition to aerial photos, altitude maps of the islands are also produced. This provides the islands with a lot of additional information. For example, the Public Entity in St. Eustatius considers that altitude maps make historical buildings and objects visible that cannot simply be seen with the naked eye in areas with a lot of vegetation due to plants and bushes.
More advantages
Aerial photos are an important source of information for the islands for even more reasons. Cables and pipelines or entire natural areas can be made visible on maps, allowing authorities to better decide, for example, whether to issue a permit for a location. And also, where houses or roads will be built and constructed on the islands. It also provides opportunities for entrepreneurs and researchers, for example to conduct market research and study natural areas.
“Beelmateriaal Nederland”
With one-off funding from the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the aerial photos will be produced by the partnership ‘Beeldmateriaal Nederland’. From this partnership, thought will be given to how aerial photos of the islands can be taken more often in the future.