Category Archives: Aerial/UAS

Commercial UAV Expo

Whole Lotta Droning Going On: Commercial UAV Expo: Part 2

Continuing with my look at last month’s Commercial UAV Expo, here’s more cool UAV-related gear. Thermal Imaging Drone Parrot is known mostly for being a provider of consumer-level drones (full disclosure, I have three of them). Now they are moving into the commercial market. One example is the Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal. This quadcopter includes two...

parrot mambo

Geospatial Holiday Gift Guide

Here’s what xyHt’s Located contributors want for the holidays and their suggestions for great geospatial gifts. Kevin Lidtka Wants a VR Booth For Christmas I would like a special booth that I can sit in. Inside will be VR glasses and a controller so I can walk or fly around my point clouds or 3D...

Microdrones Methane

Cool Gear at the Commercial UAV Expo: Part 1

The third Commercial UAV Expo brought together 2,000 professionals from 53 countries and every U.S. state, representing a wide array of industries, all in sunny Las Vegas where the October weather was quite agreeable. The event featured four keynotes, three plenaries, dozens of industry-specific presentations, offsite flying demonstrations, numerous networking events, and more than 150...

UAVs are faster and safer for tasks like quantity meas- urement and verification; this point cloud image is of a coal pile for one of Anderson’s southwest Missouri power plant clients.

UAS 2.0

An upgrade to its UAV capability yields impressive results for a Missouri engineering firm performing UAV inspections. It’s been said that while good companies are satisfied with being good, great companies are continually focused on getting better. With that adage, it’s easy to see why Anderson Engineering (AE) has more than six decades of experience...

A colorized point cloud taken with a UAV.

Unmanned Lidar in the Air

A discourse on UAV lidar from the perspectives of a vendor and a user. IS A UAV LIDAR SYSTEM REALISTIC? While UAV lidar is definitely a breakthrough for vendors and users alike, is it enough? Can UAV photogrammetry deliver what is really needed by the surveyor and engineer? Indeed it can, but only in part....

DEA’s remote pilot Ryan Reedy (left) and structural en- gineer/remote pilot Eric Ferluga (right) perform a structural inspection of a railway elevated guideway using HD video goggles. Not pictured is author Matt Kumpula who is ensuring that the flight is safe.

Organic Integration of UAS in the Pacific Northwest

A mapping and design firm in the Pacific Northwest implements UAS in diverse urban and rural environments. Editor’s Note: Integration (or not) of UAS by geospatial firms runs the gamut from outright dismissal of the technology, to firms taking a wait-and-see stance, to companies subcontracting out UAS services. Then there are those, like the mapping and...