Digital Photo Series

Project Description

The Digital Photo Series is a web-based application that provides access to the photographs and data in the Natural Fuels Photo Series.

Purpose and Scope

The natural fuels photo series was originally designed as a book taken into the field to help conduct an inventory of fuels. At the time of its inception (mid-1990s), conventional printing was the most effective way to present the images and data of the Natural Fuels Photo Series in a concise, economical, and easy to use set.

Changes in software, hardware, network technology, and the development of new applications that require fuel and stand information, highlighted the need to improve the data and utility of the natural fuels photo series by making it available in an electronic format.

Also, fire and fuels management require more and better fuel and vegetation data, like those included in the natural fuels photo series, to effectively plan treatments, including prescribed fire and mechanical fuels treatment.

Methods

System Design and Engineering—

Users of the book-form natural fuels photo series were surveyed to determine what additional information they were interested in seeing in the digital photo series. Suggestions from the wider user community was also solicited to be sure that the program’s design and results met the needs of fire and fuels managers and planners. Discussions with software programmers and web developers affected decisions regarding system architecture and application functionality.

Data Entry—

Data collected from 398 sites were standardized and consolidated into a one database. Film images for the wide-angle photos were scanned into at a low, medium, and high resolutions. Very high resolution digital images are available upon request. Refinements continue, and data elements not included in print are being added.

Software Programming and Testing—

The Digital Photo Series (DPS) can be accessed using a web browser either through the Internet or from an individual computer’s hard drive. A series of web pages provide access to the database, which is currently located on a University of Washington web server. Pages were developed using a combination of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP with help from the Smarty® template engine. Testing was performed in-house by users with a range of experience both with the photo series and software development. Participants in the various workshops at which the DPS was demonstrated and taught also served as an informal testing community.

Key Findings

Users are able to draw on data and high quality images from all published volumes simultaneously. The Digital Photo Series combines data from a large number of sites and ecosystems (i.e., individual photo series site data) in a single repository, allowing managers and planners to compare and query data from a variety ecosystems and locations to examine similarities and differences. The ability to query across locations and ecosystems allows users familiar with one fuel type to compare with other types with which they may be less familiar.

Project Deliverables

• Digital Photo Series Website
• Digital Photo Series Database- Available upon request
• Digital Photo Series Quick Reference Sheet (2009)
• Final Report to the Joint Fire Science Program (2007) (See Resources)