Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Natural color aerial imagery and structure-from-motion models from Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) 3D Scan flights at the Marsh-Felch Quarry in Garden Park Fossil Area, Colorado, July 2024

Metadata Updated: October 29, 2025

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 flight 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 3D scan flights over the fossil site. Over the course of three 25-minute flights, a Skydio X10 UAS with an integrated VT300-L Wide angle sensor scanned a 2,863 square meter area and captured 2,753 natural color red, green, blue (RGB) photos to achieve 80% overlap and 70% sidelap. The images in .JPG format are provided here in zip files to facilitate bulk download. Structure-from-motion 3D models were generated by processing these 3D scan images in photogrammetry software. These 3D models are provided here as binary glTF files (.GLB), an open format for online viewing. A low resolution model is provided for fast rendering in a web browser. A high resolution model is also provided to discern finer details in the site.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-674a19dbd34e9698b1b3f06d
Data Last Modified 2024-12-26T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id a8107410-1a9e-4779-9b94-6d0112de0577
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -105.2238270, 38.5375210, -105.2228980, 38.5380560
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash c3d1e060c1a1aae0a22eb318fd3f8b4623c2900dff69aff61afcff73647d2385
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -105.2238270, 38.5375210, -105.2238270, 38.5380560, -105.2228980, 38.5380560, -105.2228980, 38.5375210, -105.2238270, 38.5375210}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.