Incorporating Time, Cost-Saving Drones Into Projects is Easier Than You Think

By Jamaica Flying Labs

‘Mapping Our Future,’ the theme from our virtual roadshow hosted by Jamaica Flying Labs and GeoTechVision, is a unique way to engage our market, which is slowly transitioning to drones for data collection and monitoring. The event’s purpose was to highlight how different industries utilize drones in their workflow using real-life case studies and examples. It also highlighted the different prices and specifications for drones offered by our partners at GeoTechVision.

Three speakers, including Dr. Patrick Meier and Joseph Muhlhausen from WeRobotics and Josiah Burkett from Jamaica Flying Labs, presented to people from utilities, insurance, and environmental management companies. Dr. Meier explained drones in humanitarian and healthcare scenarios, showing use cases from Peru Flying Labs on disaster management and response, assisting local government with flooding damage assessment, and search and rescue. He underscored how aerial imagery and data that would take hours to collect via conventional means could be collected quickly and safely using drones. 

Dr. Meier also showed how the Flying Labs Network has been assisting communities with drones, like in Nepal, where the cargo drones deliver samples in less than 10 minutes to locations that would otherwise take hours by car. 

Mr. Joseph Muhlhausen, head of drones and data systems at WeRobotics, next spoke on environmental monitoring with drones. He introduced sensors, their different basic specifications, and ideal use cases, such as on the island of Cayo Zapatilla, Panama. This case involved monitoring the sea-level rise and mitigation using GIS. A map was created using an RGB sensor and derived elevation and terrain data from outputs to estimate the extent of flooding based on different intensity events. The result was an animated GIF showing a predicted flooding occurrence.

In another example, low-cost commercial drones monitored landfill areas, demonstrating that drones are cost-effective. As results are achieved, it’s easy to add more advanced technology to take on more significant projects. 

Finally, Mr. Burkett from Jamaica Flying Labs spoke on a simple workflow of implementing drones from planning to execution and the drone industry’s direction in the Caribbean. He highlighted some solutions available to the audience through GeoTechVision that can be implemented based on the project’s needs. 

We thank all of the participants for their support in this webinar and the three speakers. You can watch the complete program below or on our YouTube Channel.