A scientific paper written by Professor Stephen Buckland, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, compares HiDef’s digital video survey platform with another digital aerial survey method and the traditional visual aerial survey method.
His comparison study, based on surveys flown in Carmarthen Bay, Wales in March 2009, showed that the digital methods are more efficient at detecting seabird species than the traditional visual survey method, because the aircraft is flown at a much higher altitude, causing less disturbance to sensitive birds species. Professor Buckland concluded that “given the rapid technological developments, we expect digital surveys to replace visual surveys for seabirds in offshore regions”.
John Martin HiDef’s Managing Director commented, “It is pleasing to see that our survey technique has earned scientific credibility in a high ranking peer-reviewed journal. We have come a long way since that study, and are able to offer greatly superior quality images and sampling techniques which supports Professor Buckland’s prediction that the digital technique will eventually replace visual survey methods. It was pleasing to note also that the HiDef digital video survey platform had much the best statistical confidence in the population estimate of common scoter in Carmarthen Bay out of all the techniques tested, showing the importance of intelligent survey design”.
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Offshore WIND staff, July 23, 2012; Image: hidef