Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or 'drones') are increasingly becoming the solution of choice and have indeed proven to be a disruptive force across a multitude of industries in the past decade, including for the geospatial surveying profession. But will drones really provide all the answers to your mapping challenges? We interviewed five pioneers in the field to take us beyond the hype, explaining the lessons they have learned from the frontline and sharing their insights on the best ways to introduce UAVs into your business model.
UAVs can serve mapping and surveying professionals in a broad variety of ways. They are useful to collect spatial data like volume numbers as well as for a suite of other end products such as orthophotos, detailed elevation models, contour lines, 3D PDFs or special plans with cut-and-fill areas. They can also be used for projects such as those involving land subdivision, terrain inspection for construction and signalling terrain borders.