Bluesky online thermal maps reveal heat loss from homes

Tuesday, 28 October 2008

Bluesky has announced an enhanced thermal mapping service that allows home owners to quickly check on heat loss from their property over the internet. The Leicestershire aerial mapping firm has already completed night time surveys of many of Britain's cities and towns and this latest development enables integration with Council Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and websites providing an all-in-one thermal mapping solution for Local Authorities.  
 
Bluesky thermal maps reveal property ‘hot spots' using a colour coded temperature map. Matched to Ordnance Survey maps and Council Local Land and Property Gazetteers, visitors to a Council's website can simply type in their address and instantly get an idea of how much heat is escaping through their roof. Bluesky can also enhance the service by providing detailed aerial photography of the area allowing easy identification of buildings on the ground.
 
Integration with GIS enables property level thermal data to be compared with other mapping layers such as locations of public buildings, social housing, as well as social data such as indices of deprivation and homes of the elderly.  This allows the effective targeting of heat conservation initiatives and resources.
 
"With energy conservation hot on the agenda of both central government and local authorities, we have been busy developing our thermal surveying business to provide the best solutions for the market.  Easy access via the web makes it very easy for residents, landlords and businesses to access the heat loss for their own properties. Meanwhile integration with GIS and other data overlays give councils added information so that resources can be targeted very effectively" says Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky.   
 
Flown from an altitude of over 1,500 ft, the thermal surveys give better than one metre resolution so that individual properties can be pinpointed. Bluesky uses an airborne thermal infrared sensor which is modified version of technology used by the military for night vision. Surveys are typically undertaken two hours after dark in weekdays during school term time, giving the best view of energy use at peak times.  Councils can extract snapshots of data for inclusion in mail shots and press releases and Bluesky can also provide large format prints for public awareness presentations.

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