Interpine’s David Herries recently presented at the Landwise 2016 conference in Hawkes Bay. The focus was on the value of smart farming, with several of the speakers discussing the adoption and use of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles / Drones / RPAS). With over 150 attending the conference from Australia and New Zealand there was a large amount of interest in this emerging technology.
David presented some of the practical applications of UAV’s in forestry to provide an insight into another industry adopting these as tools to improve management of natural resources.
A suggested pathway of adoption of UAV technology was presented, providing insight into the way the forest industry looks to adopt the technology over the coming 2 years. We are already seeing small lightweight UAV’s being used in the forest environment as as these become more robust, the application of them will increase. Combined with online map processing services like Maps Made Easy, Drone Deploy and Pix4D, online processing will enable low cost maps for end users, without the need for complex GIS systems understanding by the end user. And as these lower costs technologies are adopted by operational field staff, we will see the complex sensors becoming a reality (LiDAR, Thermal, Hyperspectual . . .) and specialist applications (spraying . . .) develop into the industry.
If you would like more information on this presentation, or would like to talk to us about our UAV services, feel free to make contact with our team.
Source: Interpine