Natural color aerial imagery and structure-from-motion data products from Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) 2D Mapping flights at the Marsh-Felch Quarry in Garden Park Fossil Area, Colorado, July 2024

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Uncrewed Systems Office (NUSO) supported the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program’s Geoheritage Sites of the Nation Project in July of 2024 with the collection of UAS-based high-resolution imagery of the Marsh-Felch Quarry site at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Garden Park Fossil Area. One of the most complete dinosaur skeletons ever unearthed was found here. These discoveries around present-day Garden Park Fossil Area sparked the “Bone Wars” of the late 1800s and inspired the selection of Colorado's state fossil, the Stegosaurus. Three-dimensional (3D) scan flights were conducted at the fossil site using a Skydio X10 UAS, in which the aircraft autonomously determined where to capture photos to achieve coverage across a volume of interest. The natural color UAS images were processed in photogrammetry software to generate a 3D model of this fossil site for inclusion in the Geoheritage web application. A two-dimensional (2D) mapping scan with the Skydio X10 UAS flown at 300 feet above ground level was also conducted to capture the topography of the surrounding area. This portion of the data release presents raw natural color images collected during the 2D mapping flights over the fossil site. Over the course of one 21-minute flight, a Skydio X10 UAS with an integrated VT300-Z Narrow sensor mapped a 36,483 square meter area and captured 456 natural color red, green, blue (RGB) photos to achieve 75% overlap and 75% sidelap. The images are provided here in a zip file to facilitate bulk download. Structure-from-motion (SfM) Digital Surface Model (DSM) and Orthomosaic data products were generated by processing these 2D Mapping images in photogrammetry software. These data products are provided here in .tif format zipped with supporting files. These DSM and orthomosaic data products were generated for visualization of the environment surrounding the quarry site.

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  "geospatial"
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