Over the last 50 years, surveying and measurement technology has made five significant breakthroughs: total station, the electronic distance meter, robotic total station GPS, and laser scanner. The use of Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), marks the latest industry’s latest milestone.
As a result of the basic advances in drone and photography tech, the use of UAS in land surveying is a no-brainer. The automated gyroscopes, accelerometers, and GPS systems that come standard with most commercial drones can provide pinpoint readings to UAS surveillance equipment. Couple this with the fact that you can mount just about any type of camera on a drone, and the amount of data that a surveying crew could capture from the air is nearly infinite.
For example, DroneMapper uses geo-tags and mass-market cameras to provide an extremely detailed UAV SaaS platform that “offers accurate geospatial mapping solutions generated from 2D aerial imagery.”
Companies like Hoverfly are building loading-bearing drones, like their Erista 8 HL, and advanced camera gimbals, to provide surveyors with versatile hardware to conduct business.
And, as with every new technology, software and hardware developments will be rolling out fast and furious which will increase drone capability and accuracy exponentially.
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com