by Calculated Risk on 5/25/2009 11:41:00 AM

From Carolyn Said at the SF Chronicle: Aerial hunter sniffs out mosquito-ridden pools

Last year, mosquito districts hired [Aerial Services of Livermore] to fly over almost every county in California. It covered 3,500 square miles - about one-third of the state's urban area - and "harvested" 27,000 algae-ridden pools, providing the districts with photographs, maps, street addresses, latitude/longitude and parcel data, including ownership.

"We find lots of mosquito sources at foreclosed homes," said John Rusmisel, district manager for Alameda County's Mosquito Abatement District. "It's an ongoing and big problem."

This story isn't new - but it is interesting:

[Bob Franklin] bought a Cessna plane with a 30-inch-wide hole in the bottom to mount a downward-facing camera. The hole is a $40,000 option, as it requires rerouting wires and making structural changes. ... He wrote software for flight planning, camera control and specialized image processing.

I find it amusing that he got the idea for the business while towing an advertising banner for Circuit City.