Over the Sea to Skye...

Immortalised in song, the crossing from Scotland to the Isle of Skye was a romantic island-hop. By the latter half of the 20C the ferry queues to cross made life unbearable for the residents of Kyle of Lochalsh and Kyleakin. A bridge was proposed 250m span, with 2 sidespans of 125m. That's 500m, the same distance the ferry used to ply 2Km east.of where work started in 1992, with the new bridge opening in 1995. In the end it was even more controversial than the ferries it replaced, pimarily as the bridge was huge - needing to have clearance for Ocean Going vessels - and because it was funded privately resulting in a substancial toll (which led to civil protests and non-payments) until the government paid off the private agreement  by buying the bridge in 2004 - the crossing is now free.

The construction consists of a new route out of Kyle, blasted through rock, a now disused Toll Plazza, the Carrich Approach Viaduct continues west to the formerly isolated island of Eilean Ban, before one huge single concrete arch rises nearly 150ft from the water. By world standards this is not a big bridge, but it represents Continuity of access for the people of Skye.

Europe / UK-Scotland

Lat: 57° 16' 28.393" N
Long: 6° 45' 25.978" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

4 GoPro HERO3+ cameras, with a wooden camera cradle/rig to hold the cameras in exactly the correct position is triggered by 4 custom designed camera syncronisers.

Suspended below a Dan Leigh Cruiser kite with 8ft/2.5m span.
This technique produces two hemispheres, and a different workflow in PTGui from the classic ground pano technique. This results in extra effort BUT impossible angles!

The camera rig: http://www.gentles.info/KAP/Rigs/index.htm?item=16

how Kite Aerial Photography is achieved[ http://www.gentles.info/KAP/Overview/index.htm
and the workflow http://www.gentles.info/KAP/Gallery/Panotechnique/index.htm