Drone's Eye View

By Craig Guillot

Even if you haven't seen a drone or two flying around your city, chances are you will soon. Inexpensive and easy to operate, they're coming to the masses and taking hold in industries from entertainment and energy to construction and engineering.

Planners say they could offer tremendous uses in the field with real-time aerial views, high-resolution aerial imagery, and more detailed data for decision making. Despite the potential, commercial drone operation remains illegal in the U.S. without a special exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration. While the agency is moving toward establishing a licensing system in 2016, many commercial operators aren't waiting. It's time to learn more about what could prove to be one of the greatest tools we've seen in the past decade.

A drone by any other name

Unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly known as drones, are typically defined as aircraft without a pilot on board. They can be operated autonomously or by a human on the ground, and range from multimillion-dollar machines the size of a school bus to $100 units the size of a baseball.

Civilian versions are increasingly being deployed for commercial applications all around the globe. Energy companies are using them to inspect power lines in the United Kingdom, Japanese farmers are using them to spray crops, and the United Arab Emirates is working on a prototype system of drones to deliver government documents. Liam Young, an architect and cofounder of the urban futures think tank Tomorrow's Thoughts Today, says that within the next decade drones could become as "ubiquitous and as common as pigeons."

Here in the U.S., drones have started to take hold in a number of industries from real estate to construction. Robert Voigt, senior project manager at Cambium Consulting and Engineering in Ontario, says the machines have "great potential" for planning. Voigt's firm has been using UAVs for almost two years. Cambium was the first planning firm in Canada to obtain a commercial drone certificate from Transport Canada, the nation's federal transportation agency.

Voigt says drones allow planners to "see more of the environment they're planning for." They enable planners to easily conduct topographical surveys and learn more about an area by obtaining a "whole new visual perspective." They also offer aerial accessibility in a cost-effective and simple manner.

Planners can use drones to obtain instant aerial views before undertaking the costly measures of dealing with survey crews and hiring planes for traditional aerial imagery. Voigt says drone photography and video also deliver a "wow factor" and clear communication in planning reports.

"Oblique imagery is a clearer form of communication and allows you to better envision the world because you're not looking straight down or straight out. It's a powerful tool to visualize location," he says.

He adds that his firm has been able to get in four to eight drone flights a day and obtain "spectacular" imagery of sites. Cambium has been using drones on behalf of a half-dozen clients — for urban design work, to analyze development opportunities, and to document existing projects.

Lane Kendig, based in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is the strategic advisor at Kendig Keast Collaborative, a community planning and design firm. He has written zoning codes and comprehensive plans in the past and says drones could have tremendous potential in helping planners conduct research, especially in the field of parking. He says most county and city parking manuals are often "years outdated" and believes drones could help planners more efficiently obtain up-to-date parking surveys.

"When it comes to writing zoning codes, that has always been a frustration because you can't always get [reliable and up-to-date] parking information," says Kendig.

Small applications

Whether they're used to scout a new piece of land, analyze the layout of a community, or obtain images for plan presentations, UAVs ultimately offer near real-time information in a cost-effective manner, Voigt says. Things like satellite images from Google Earth are often low quality and up to three years old. UAVs allow planners to put a camera hundreds of feet in the air and obtain real-time views of just about any location at any time.

Voigt believes drones could be especially beneficial to smaller communities. "Small towns can now [obtain] site-specific aerial photos. They can do fly-through of areas and obtain phenomenal data and images that can really change people's perspectives," he says.

Mitchell Sipus, CEO of Sutika Sipus in New York City, has worked in conflict zones such as Somalia, providing mapping for social research and humanitarian operations. Sipus, a planner, says that UAVs offer tremendous benefits in the field of planning. Ten years ago, he worked in refugee camps that grew almost every day. The only way he could obtain maps was to walk the perimeter of camps and log GPS coordinates with his satellite phone.

"I had to come up with all these creative ways to do planning back then. Nowadays, you could just fly a drone up in the air and obtain images," he says.

Sipus says while the machines now offer aerial observation and imagery, they could have even more uses in the future from advances in programming and autonomy. The technology is still evolving, but Sipus says that along with other machinery and programming, drones are simply a form of "social robotics" that can change how we see things and think.

Cost-effective, easy to operate

Drones are widely available in the consumer market and relatively easy to fly. Many models come with high-resolution photo and video capabilities for under $1,000. Radios have ranges of up to one kilometer, and sophisticated flight controllers allow users to easily maintain positions at virtually any altitude. Real-time imagery from the drone is broadcast back to a ground station monitor or the user's smartphone. Voigt says even a "technically challenged" person could learn to operate one easily.

"They now have gyroscopes in them and know where they are in relation to the ground. They're not hard to fly; you could be proficient in a few days of practice," says Voigt.

That practice is less about being able to fly without crashing than it is to operate the drone smoothly for good video quality. Operators must be highly alert to their surroundings and altitude, especially when flying at lower altitudes near buildings and trees.

Ric Stephens, principal of Stephens Planning & Design in Portland, Oregon, has been using a drone for the past year to analyze projects, film presentations, and create photo simulations. He has captured aerial photos for the University of Oregon for future development evaluation, created photo simulations of downtown designs for Mt. Angela, Oregon, and shot video for the Portland Innovation District.

Stephens uses several UAVs, including a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus, one of the most popular consumer drones on the market. It features a built-in gimbal camera that shoots 14 megapixel photos, 1080p video, and can fly for 25 minutes on a single battery charge. "When GPS-connected to more than six satellites, it's a very high-quality, stable platform," says Stephens, referring to the fact that drones have an autostabilization system allowing an operator to take hands off the controls.

There are dozens of drones with a range of price and capability. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Aeryon Labs manufactures small UAVs for commercial and government applications. Its SkyRanger and Scout machines are being deployed around the world for power line inspections, disaster response, police investigations, surveying and mapping, and the oil and gas industry.

Aeryon vice president of marketing and product management David Proulx says the growth in the UAV industry can be attributed to advances in technology that allow them to be made smaller, cheaper, and easier to operate. Miniaturization of processors, GPS units, batteries, and motors has dramatically shrunk the size of machines and reduced costs. Easily transported in a small case, Aeryon's machines feature advanced software that allows them to be controlled with tablets and even programmed for autopilot missions.

"They're becoming intuitive and a lot easier to use," says Proulx. "Our [UAVs] were designed for people who have day jobs and aren't going to be full-time UAV operators."

Proulx says drones offer tremendous advantages in aerial observation and imagery. When factoring in a machine's lifetime of aerial capabilities, they're a fraction of the cost of photography and observation from manned aircraft. As manned planes are barred from flying too low or close to urban areas, they often have to capture images from hundreds or thousands of feet away. UAVs can fly at ultra-low altitudes and obtain images at close proximity from any angle.

New software solutions can stitch together hundreds or thousands of images to create highly detailed 3-D models of buildings or areas. Voigt says that feature allows planners to visualize existing sites in detailed and precise ways that have never before been possible.

Aeryon's machines have been used to create complex 3-D models, including one of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which has never been accurately modeled. Aeryon captured 3,584 images of the statue in 19 10-minute flights, then converted them into a 3-D model with Pix4Dmapper Pro. Proulx says commercial users are only scratching the surface of what UAVs could do for modeling buildings, neighborhoods, and areas.

"You can post-process imagery to create ortho-rectified 2-D or 3-D models that can be used in the planning process," says Proulx. "It offers a whole new way to visualize and measure."

Risks and legal issues

While they're inexpensive and available, drones do raise issues. Anyone can operate a drone for recreational purposes under "hobbyist" regulations, but as of June 2015, the FAA still officially barred using drones for commercial operation without a Section 333 exemption. The agency has so far only issued a few hundred exemptions, which come with a strict set of requirements, including observation by an actual licensed pilot.

The agency is in the process of writing a framework of regulations for a licensing system in the next year or so. The FAA stated in a press release in February 2015 that the permitting would be less stringent and a private pilot license would no longer be required. A drone operator would need to be over the age of 17, pass an aeronautical knowledge test, and obtain an FAA UAS operator certificate. (For more on FAA rules, see "Know Your Drone," May 2015.)

Flights would be limited to daylight and line-of-sight operation below 400 feet. UAVs would also need to be registered and marked. The proposed rule also implies there could be the inclusion of a more flexible framework for "micro" UAVs under 4.4 pounds.

In practice, the FAA has yet to officially fine a single operator solely for commercial operation. All fines levied so far have been for pilots partaking in flights the agency has deemed "reckless." Aviation authority representatives have even stated in press releases that their selective enforcement strategy is meant to "educate" and "prevent dangerous situations."

"There are all kinds of people flying these things without a permit. It all comes down to policing," says Voigt.

Stephens, who teaches a course on drones at Portland State University's College of Urban and Public Affairs, says there's a lot to learn before jumping in. The course covers history, laws and ethics, aerodynamics and navigation, flight planning, operations, aerial photography, and emerging trends.

UAVs do entail some risk. There have been a number of high-profile crashes and near-misses with airplanes. All drone operators are supposed to stay at least five miles away from airports and stay under 400 feet in altitude unless authorized by the FAA. A propeller, motor, or battery failure could send the drone spiraling down to the ground.

With FAA approval or not, planners considering using drones may want to think about liability insurance. There are now about a half-dozen insurance companies offering policies to cover liability and damages in the event of a crash or mechanical failure.

While Stephens believes UAVs have great potential, he says they're being hampered by "a lot of confusion" about federal, state, and local regulations, compounded by safety, privacy, and issues that the media "is quick to exploit." Most public organizations that have interest in drones are waiting for FAA approval before they start deploying them, but many in the private sector aren't waiting, says Stephens.

"It is my sincerest wish that the U.S. will move forward with this transformative technology so we can realize its extraordinary benefits," says Stephens.

Craig Guillot is a freelance writer based in New Orleans.

---

Resources

Images: Top — An image of the inaugural flight of one drone used by Cambium Consulting and Engineering. Middle — The firm used a drone to take panoramas and other images of Omemee, Ontario, to help give people an immediate sense of scale and bearings. Courtesy Cambium Consulting and Engineering. Bottom — The author, a drone enthusiast, snapped some pics about 150 feet over a plaza in Seaside, Florida. Photo by Craig Guillot.

Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (drone/UAV trade association): www.auvsi.org

FAA official model aircraft operation rules: www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft

How to apply for a Section 333 exemption: www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333

UAV liability insurance: www.transportrisk.com/uavrcfilm.html

40 uses for drones: Ric Stephens put together a list of practical applicatons for UAVs — and lots of other resources — at www.stephensplanning.com.

Mapping Christ the Redeemer, Aeryon Labs Inc. Explores the first-ever modeling of the Rio de Janeiro statue (2015): http://tinyurl.com/navlwza

Aerial Drone View Over North Beach Maryland Calvert County, Mid-Atlantic Aerial. Shows the city's assets, part of crafting a new plan with help from APA's Community Assistance Program (2014): http://tinyurl.com/pdoujzg