Drones – What’s the Buzz?
How UAVs/Drones Can Be Used on Surveying Projects and Benefit Our Clients
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, have been rapidly increasing in popularity within the world of professional land surveying and beyond. UAVs can be used in a wide variety of projects, from the initial scouting of a site to the finishing touches. Due to the versatility and cost-effectiveness of UAVs, at Foster Survey Company we are able to employ this technology in our work and pass the benefits along to our valued clients.
In recent years, UAVs have been reshaping how land surveying, GIS, and other professionals operate, both in the field and the analytical phase that follows. They have been considered the most revolutionary technology in the mapping and surveying industries since GPS.
Drones offer several advantages over traditional land surveying techniques and provide a better alternative to human resources, heavy machinery, and expensive surveying tools. The use of drones/UAVs in the field allows surveyors to be safer and leads to faster and more economical land surveys. This ability to save time and money can then be forwarded to clients.
What are the benefits of drones?
- Cost Efective. Drones cost less money than employing a full-blown flying machine such as a helicopter, are less expensive than paying and insuring an individual who would have to manually scour a building or site of interest, and can minimize costs associated with hiring someone to survey fields and large swaths of land by foot.
- Safe. Drones are less risky than manning aircrafts and provide a better alternative than traditional inspection methods that involve high-risk areas such as rough and unstable terrain, mines, precarious climbing onto roofs, or other parts of a structure using harnesses or scaffolding. They can also save lives by scouting workplace conditions before a worker is dispatched and hovering over locations too dangerous for a human.
- Accurate. Drones are able to accurately scan and plot large landmasses, infrastructures, and distances by collecting millions of data points and capturing hundreds of high-resolution images in one short flight. This accuracy can be used to pinpoint where projects begin to lag, become congested, or predict where hazards could arise.
- Quick. Drones are less time consuming than utilizing satellites, manned aerial vehicles, and the traditional method of surveyors on the ground. Large jobs that once took weeks can be completed in a few days, and a week’s worth of traditional data collection can be achieved in one day or even less. As a result, data are often processed and available for use earlier, enabling quicker progress and more time to experience returns on a project.
- Convenient. Drones are able to squeeze into tight spots and access heights that are hard to reach by a human crew. With the ability to get a bird’s eye view on a project, UAVs complement what engineers observe from the ground, which is especially useful if problems arise, to see how solid structures are, and how projects appear aesthetically. Due to this, drone users can regularly monitor the progress of a project and make more informed decisions.
- Unique. Drones have the capability of collecting real-time information rapidly and delivering it in a concise format, enabling users to transmit data quickly to a live feed or upload to a database or server that can be accessed by individuals around the globe. This information sharing is a creative way to improve communication with clients, stakeholders, and contractors, ensuring that everybody is on the same page; it is especially useful if individuals cannot come to view the job site regularly.
- Advanced. Drones are equipped with incredibly high-resolution cameras with panoramic capacities, and with the addition of various camera attachments, they are able to perform tasks such as measure the amount of live vegetation in an area, track geothermal levels, detect infrared energy, search for oil and mineral deposits, and observe terrain appearances with 3D laser scanners.
How can someone utilize drones?
Drones are versatile in their uses and are beneficial to a wide variety of individuals, including:
- Professional land surveyors, developers, and construction workers who use drones or UAVs to perform surveys and monitor sites, which can range from small scale residential projects to large scale industrial complexes.
- Practical for building inspectors and utility or pipeline companies by being able to safely inspect wear and tear on commercial buildings, hard to access infrastructure, or power line and pipeline monitoring.
- Those involved in geographic information systems (GIS) are able to visualize, question, analyze, and interpret data provided by drones and present digital maps to understand relationships, patterns, and trends related to projects. Deliverables may include orthophotos, orthomosaic maps, elevation maps, or 3D models.
- Companies that have tangible stockpile assets such as mulch, stone, or firewood can use drones for volume calculations, aggregate measurements, or surface assessments.
- Researchers and analysts across many fields are able to use UAVs to collect data for investigative purposes, analyses, modeling, forecasting, and environmental impact assessments.
- Those interested in marketing or communication materials, such as real estate agents, sports teams, event planners, and business owners can find drones useful via their superior aerial photography and video.
- High-resolution cameras mounted on UAVs can be valuable to those involved in forestry, agriculture, and livestock by identifying illegal land use such as unsanctioned logging, crop management, fertilizer and disease monitoring, insect problem identification, and tracking animal movements and eating patterns.
- Emergency services are also putting drones to use by helping to locate missing persons or animals, rescuing those trapped under snow from avalanches via thermo-sensing, and detecting early forest fires through infrared sensors.
- Finally, UAVs can assist municipalities and individuals in inventory assessment and asset management with the ability to place an accurate value on a piece of land, allowing for proper levels of taxation.
In conclusion, it is evident that UAVs offer numerous benefits to users and their clients. They are a low cost yet high yield asset that are able to boost productivity, maximize profit, and minimize risks of mistakes that could be costly in the long run.
By using drones, users are able to quickly obtain unique, reliable, and accurate 3D Reality Capture & Mobile Mapping data, enabling them to put more energy into using collected data, such as analyzing and problem-solving, rather than spending precious hours figuring out how to acquire it.
While the many benefits of UAV technology are enticing, it is important to work with the appropriate partner to fully procure the value of drones. At Foster Survey Company, we have direct experience using drones in the field and would love to help you see your next project to fruition. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you.
Sources:
https://www.dronethusiast.com/7-ways-you-could-use-a-drone-in-construction-projects/; https://3dr.com/blog/5-ways-drones-transforming-earthworks-eaf730727ec/#; http://www.futuristspeaker.com/business-trends/192-future-uses-for-flying-drones/ ; https://www.kdedirect.com/blogs/news/drones-for-surveying-and-mapping-professional-a-game-changer-for-the-industry; http://www.windpowerengineering.com/construction/advantages-using-drones-land-development-projects/
http://www.landpoint.net/how-drone-surveying-helps-with-agriculture-forestry/; http://www.landpoint.net/three-benefits-of-using-drones-for-pipeline-surveying/; https://www.sensefly.com/applications/surveying.html
https://www.identifiedtech.com/blog/aerial-surveying-drone/why-land-mapping-drones-are-a-surveyors-best-friend/
