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Selecting Kite Flight Launch Sites in Centerville

by Olivia on February 16, 2012 - 03:03
butte, kite-mapping, balloon-mapping,

Before we began working with Mathew Lippincott’s Tyvek kite designs in Butte, we had already been working with the Centerville Neighborhood as our focus site. Between a 5 million dollar EPA reclamation project and what will become a 2.14 million affordable housing investment—a once neglected (and nearly forgotten) Centerville is now on the verge of major social and physical change.

Grassroots Mapping in Butte Goes Analog

by mathew on December 13, 2011 - 01:00
butte, kite-mapping, balloon-mapping,

This article was co-written by Olivia Everett, Butte site coordinator for Public Laboratory. It was re-posted from the original at PBS's IdeaLab blog.

Towards a Tyvek & Bamboo Delta Kit

by mathew on November 4, 2011 - 02:45
portland, butte, kite-mapping,

The goal: to build a low-wind kite that's easy to build and costs less than $10 in materials. This details my work as well as Pat Coyle's on kite construction, and the rationale of the delta as a kit kite.

Tyvek Fleds, Theoretical & Actual Performance

by mathew on August 5, 2011 - 14:18
butte, kite-mapping,

I've built a series of three Fled Kites out of Tyvek housewrap and bamboo. The most recent I built to the full Fled scale, 209cm across, and it rocks. I've been able to lift a kite in a steady breeze measured at 3-5mph on the ground, and as long as the wind on the ground doesn't drop much below 5mph (I can't quite tell, as my anemometer doesn't go any lower than 4), it will stay in the air lifting a cannon Elph SD600 (250g).

splitting bamboo for kites

by mathew on July 28, 2011 - 00:17
butte, kite-mapping,

Bamboo is a great kite making material. It grows in poor soils and is competitive with Fiberglass for strength. There are two different types of culms (poles) you can use- whole culms, or split culms.

Balloon & Kite Mapping

Why Balloons and Kites?

These tools are being developed to provide a low cost, easy to use, and safe methods for making maps and aerial images. Over the last two years, we’ve built a global community of mappers who are engaged in discussion around the development and use of this tool and others.


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