The FAA estimates that there will be nearly half a million registered commercial use drones in the U.S. by 2022 (FAA 2018 – 2038 Aerospace Forecast).
Drones in construction
Drones, or UAVs or UAS, are being used in the GIS industry for such purposes as military surveillance, real estate, searching for hurricane activity, search and rescue missions, public health and safety, agriculture and in construction and countless other industries. In some cases, drones can provide greater resolution than satellite imagery. Their size and affordability makes them a valuable choice for scientists, power companies, surveyors, military actions and civilians and many others. They are also environmentally friendly and provide a low-cost option for gathering valuable data that can then be fed into a GIS.
Since drones can autonomously collect a vast range of data they are appealing to many use cases. Besides, they are light-weight and high performance. Satellite imagery has provided remote sensing data for mapping, but can often display low fidelity or limited visibility from cloud cover. High precision and accuracy can be achieved with aerial imagery, with planes equipped with high tech remote sensors. Photogrammetry, which makes use of overlapping photos to identify exact measurements between objects, is a useful way of gathering accurate models.
Dublin Airport is a busy international airport with very restricted airspace, which makes it difficult for an aerial survey company to capture data. As a consequence, the airport has been using data collected by laser scanning aircraft from aerial mapping company Bluesky to accurately measure land surface elevation to help reduce the risk of flooding at the airport. Dublin Airport is the 11th busiest airport in Europe, serving more than 31.5 million passengers in 2018, travelling to almost 200 destinations in 43 countries.
GeoCue President and CTO, Lewis Graham, answered some questions for GISCafe Voice about GeoCue products and their new TrueView platform. TrueView is UAV/LiDAR fusion by design, according to company materials, an integrated LIDAR/camera fusion platform designed from the ground up to generate high accuracy 3D colorized point clouds.
David Smith, Senior Director Model Development at CoreLogic, spoke with GISCafe Voice about CoreLogic’s recent announcement of residential and commercial flood and wind loss estimates for Hurricane Barry before the event occurred. According to this data analysis from the company, flood loss for residential and commercial properties in Louisiana is estimated to be between $200 million and $400 million which includes both storm surge and inland flooding. Insured flood loss from private insurers is estimated at less than $100 million. Wind losses are estimated to be an additional $300 million to $500 million. In total, insured flood and wind losses, excluding National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) losses, are between $300 million and $600 million.
CoreLogic® is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. This information is directly drawn from company materials:
Dr. Ron S. Jarmin and other spokespeople from the U.S. Census Bureau spoke at the Esri User Conference 2019 Plenary Session about the enormous responsibility of the U.S. Census Bureau to administer the constitutionally mandated count of the U.S. population, a task that is done every ten years since 1790.
The theme of Esri User Conference 2019 was “See What Others Can’t.” The idea is that with GIS, people have the power to see differently. This was the 39th Annual Users Meeting, and while the meeting attracts close to 12,000 attendees per year, Esri CEO and president Jack Dangermond said that the purpose remains the same as it was when they began meeting with users at a Montessori school many years ago.
Dr. Anne Kemp OBE, UK BIM Alliance Chair, Fellow and Technical Director at Atkins, has received the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her contribution to the development of the UK’s smart digital economy.
This week, GISCafe Voice spoke with Este Geraghty, MD, MS, MPH, GISP, Chief Medical Officer & Health Solutions Director, Esri. Formerly the Deputy Director of the Center for Health Statistics and Informatics with the California Department of Public Health, Dr. Geraghty led the state vital records and public health informatics programs. There she engaged in statewide initiatives in meaningful use, health information exchange, open data and interoperability.
These maps show areas of low vaccination rates (and increased risks of measles outbreaks). Maps of the situation in both New York and Washington show the reality of outbreaks.
Ole Rollen, president and CEO of Hexagon, spoke on the topic of “Can Data Save the World?” at the ninth consecutive HxGN LIVE held in Las Vegas this week.
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