UAVs and the Built Environment

摘要

My Endpoint column in the February 2011 issue touched upon general characteristics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Here, I focus on low-weight, low-altitude and the built environment. Low-weight UAVs are easily transportable and can be purchased at affordable prices. Thanks to their user-friendliness and fidelity, today's low-weight UAVs offer a seemingly cost-efficient method of collecting 3D data for a single building, or a handful of adjacent premises, in urban areas.