Speaker 1: Imagine a tool that completely transforms how you see the world.
Speaker 1: I mean not just giving you a new perspective, but
Speaker 1: unlocking insights and efficiencies you couldn't even dream of before.
Speaker 1: And that's really the power of drone technology we're talking
Speaker 1: about today, and we're going deep into how it's just
Speaker 1: completely redefining the architecture, engineering, and construction industries.
Speaker 2: AEC for sure, exactly, and we're diving into this strategic guide.
Speaker 2: It's called Drone Technology and Architecture, Engineering and Construction by
Speaker 2: Daniel Teller and John Alchild. It's really comprehensive, and like
Speaker 2: you said, this isn't just about you know, flying a
Speaker 2: cool gadget around. It's really about understanding how these unmanned
Speaker 2: aerial vehicles UAVs are becoming absolutely essential professional tools. They
Speaker 2: are changing projects from the very start right through to
Speaker 2: the end.
Speaker 1: Right So our mission today really is to cut through
Speaker 1: all the noise, pull out the most important bits of
Speaker 1: knowledge from this guide. It's incredibly detailed and you know,
Speaker 1: highlight those aha moments, the things that will make you
Speaker 1: feel genuinely clued in about how big an impact drones
Speaker 1: are having on well everything around us, the buildings, the landscape.
Speaker 1: So what does this actually mean for you? How could
Speaker 1: it change things?
Speaker 3: Okay, let's get into it. You know, for decades, I
Speaker 3: think when most people thought about drones, it was all
Speaker 3: military stuff, wasn't it. Stuff you see on the news
Speaker 3: in films. But the journey to how they became these
Speaker 3: sophisticated tools we use today, that's quite a story. What
Speaker 3: did that really begin?
Speaker 2: Well, it's a fascinating evolution. Really.
Speaker 4: Early versions actually go way back to the eighteen hundreds. Yeah,
Speaker 4: unmanned balloons, believe or not, for military observation. Then you
Speaker 4: fast forward to World War One, World War two you
Speaker 4: started seeing radio controlled aircraft. But the drones we kind
Speaker 4: of recognized today. They really took off in warfare maybe
Speaker 4: mid nineteen eighties. But the real game changer for civilian
Speaker 4: news anyway, was this convergence. It happened in the early
Speaker 4: two thousands. You had the rise of hobby radio controlled
Speaker 4: plans in the nineties, and that met the boom and
Speaker 4: consumer digital cameras, remember the first one nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 4: I think suddenly you could stick a pretty good, lightweight
Speaker 4: camera onto a relatively keep reliable flying thing. That changed
Speaker 4: everything and.
Speaker 1: For aec Wow, that convergence was just revolutionary. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've been working mainly off two D plans forever right
Speaker 1: for site design. Suddenly drones let us pull in live
Speaker 1: perspective views, interactive three D graphics right into the design
Speaker 1: process itself. It's not just about getting more data though,
Speaker 1: it feels like it connects you to the site differently emotionally.
Speaker 1: Almost when you see a site a landscape from up high,
Speaker 1: it just clicks. You understand the shape, the connections, the
Speaker 1: context in a way you didn't before. I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: projects like the Conifer High School sports fields one in
Speaker 1: the book. You instantly see how it all fits together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you connect that to the bigger picture,
Speaker 2: it really boosts this idea of contextually sensitive design. It's
Speaker 2: a term we use a lot. Designs aren't just static
Speaker 2: ideas on paper anymore. You experience them differently right from
Speaker 2: the get go. The book shows us really well with
Speaker 2: the highway station project, seeing a nice wandering short but
Speaker 2: then you see the drone photo match. It's the same
Speaker 2: detailed three D model, but plus all the real surroundings,
Speaker 2: the actual views, which means designs get understood, get communicated
Speaker 2: within their real living context. That's incredibly powerful for getting
Speaker 2: everyone on board avoiding costly mistakes down the line.
Speaker 1: Okay, so, given this huge shift and just seeing a site,
Speaker 1: what are the tagible the core advantages driving this? Why
Speaker 1: are AEC firms adopting drones so fast? What's the first
Speaker 1: big hook?
Speaker 2: Well, often the conversation kicks off with affordability. It's surprising
Speaker 2: maybe how low the cost of entry is for firms,
Speaker 2: especially when you compare it to traditional ways of gathering
Speaker 2: data like a good Dji Phantom or a Mavig Pro
Speaker 2: drone package perfectly capable for professional stuff comes in around
Speaker 2: what eighteen hundred dollars? That's a really accessible investment for
Speaker 2: getting such powerful tools.
Speaker 1: That does a critical point. Seriously affordable. But okay, beyond
Speaker 1: just buying the drone, what about the flexibility? What can
Speaker 1: they actually do day to day?
Speaker 2: Ah, that's where it gets really interesting. They are incredibly versatile.
Speaker 2: Think about it. Project managers can literally just take one
Speaker 2: to a site, visit, reve essential data, and boom integrated
Speaker 2: almost immediately. Or maybe it's a remote site, an experienced
Speaker 2: pilot can guide a local operator through the exact flight needed.
Speaker 2: Plus you can swap out different cameras and sensors. You
Speaker 2: need lightar, multi spectral, high zoom cameras. You can adapt
Speaker 2: the drone for all sorts of project needs, surveys, detailed analysis.
Speaker 2: It's very adaptable.
Speaker 1: And then there's just the sheer range and access that
Speaker 1: must be huge.
Speaker 2: Oh massive drones get into places give you vantage points
Speaker 2: that would otherwise cause to fortune with planes or satellites,
Speaker 2: or even more importantly, avoid really high risk manual inspections.
Speaker 2: Think about checking the top of a huge oil rig
Speaker 2: or a big power plant miles of pipeline. You can
Speaker 2: do it safely from a distance, keep workers out of
Speaker 2: dangerous situations. That's a huge plus. And the data isn't
Speaker 2: stuck in a silo either. That's what's really key. It
Speaker 2: merges so easily into the workflows people are already using.
Speaker 2: You get instant analysis, elevation data, topography, stuff that used
Speaker 2: to take days or weeks. It's simplified. Getting things into
Speaker 2: three D models for renderings, for design checks. Software like
Speaker 2: Picks forty desktops for instance, makes processing this stuff pretty seamless,
Speaker 2: less hassle, faster insights for the whole team.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that looks back to something you mentioned earlier safety.
Speaker 1: That seems like a fundamental shift.
Speaker 2: It really is. Yeah, for so many industries, drones are
Speaker 2: changing how work gets done by just keeping people safe,
Speaker 2: whether it's those high roof inspections or checking out infrastructure
Speaker 2: and tricky spots, you get the information you need without
Speaker 2: putting anyone at risk.
Speaker 1: Definitely, and it's not just for one specific task. You know,
Speaker 1: drones are useful across the entire project cycle. Every phase.
Speaker 1: Take writing a proposal, imagine including actual aerial footage, maybe
Speaker 1: some videos, initial graphics like those annotated bird's eye shots
Speaker 1: for the Frisco Colorado Marina project. They mentioned. It instantly
Speaker 1: shows you know the site you're committed, makes a huge
Speaker 1: first impression.
Speaker 2: And then for the actual proposal interview, those high stakes meetings,
Speaker 2: we've already flown the site and have photogrammetry, having that
Speaker 2: three D model, the photos, the video, that's an incredible
Speaker 2: analysis tool, a presentation tool. It just sets you apart.
Speaker 2: The book talks about overlaying a hand drawn plan onto
Speaker 2: a photogrammetric mesh for a little dry creak that's super impactful,
Speaker 2: communicates the idea within reality. And then when the project
Speaker 2: actually starts up, those initial drone images are gold great
Speaker 2: for analysis, easy to share with consultants, with clients, gets
Speaker 2: progress tracking going right away, then moving into concept design,
Speaker 2: design development. You can merge graphic overlays directly with your
Speaker 2: three D models. Your CAD info makes presentations for approvals
Speaker 2: so much clearer that I twenty five and similar. In
Speaker 2: interchange projects, for instance, they use drone views to show
Speaker 2: exactly how the new road fit into the real world, no.
Speaker 1: Guesswork, and during construction itself, construction administration, this is where
Speaker 1: it really seems to shine.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Being able to refly the same pre programmed
Speaker 2: flight paths, often automatically, it gives you almost real time
Speaker 2: tracking cloud software things like Sidaware Precision, HOWK, Trimble Stratus.
Speaker 2: They can compare flights, automatically, calculate prog material use, cut
Speaker 2: and feel volumes with amazing accuracy. It's like a constant
Speaker 2: feedback loop. You can even tie it into BIM models,
Speaker 2: into gaunt charts total oversight, and.
Speaker 1: Even after construction, they're still useful.
Speaker 2: Immense value, absolutely for long term monitoring, checking site conditions.
Speaker 2: Is the ground settling okay? Any geohazards like landslides popping up?
Speaker 2: How's the infrastructure holding up. You can constantly compare the
Speaker 2: as built reality against the original design intent. That's crucial
Speaker 2: for managing risk, ensuring success years later.
Speaker 1: And just for telling the story right. Visual communication, public outreach, fundraising, marketing.
Speaker 2: Drone visuals are fantastic for that. Those amazing three D
Speaker 2: rendered overlays for the Pike's Peak visitor Center so powerful.
Speaker 2: Anyone can look at that and instantly understand the vision.
Speaker 2: See it in its actual context, really brings it to
Speaker 2: life for everyone involved.
Speaker 1: So we keep saying drone data. We know it's photos
Speaker 1: and video, but what else? What are the specific actionable
Speaker 1: things you get? What's the raw stuff and what can
Speaker 1: it become?
Speaker 2: Right? It starts with you know, hiros photos and video,
Speaker 2: but the real magic often is photographmetry. That's the process
Speaker 2: that takes a whole bunch of overlapping photos and turns
Speaker 2: them into well a detailed three D model, orthographic areals
Speaker 2: like true top down maps and even contour lines. And
Speaker 2: from that you generate a whole range of super useful deliverables.
Speaker 1: Okay, walk us through some examples. What are these deliverables
Speaker 1: and how do people actually use them?
Speaker 4: Sure?
Speaker 2: So you can get precise two D and three D
Speaker 2: concept overlays. You merge the drone images with your plans
Speaker 2: or three D models. Makes for really rich contextual visuals
Speaker 2: like the Badlands National Park plan or that highway station
Speaker 2: overlay we talked about. You also get detailed three D meshes.
Speaker 2: Those are basically services made of polygons and classified point clouds.
Speaker 2: That's where the software smartly figures out okay, that's a tree,
Speaker 2: that's grass, that's a building, right from the raw data points.
Speaker 2: The Clear Creek Canyon Bridge project used that for some
Speaker 2: really complex modeling.
Speaker 1: And what about for managing the project while it's ongoing.
Speaker 2: That's where things like construction analysis over the Internet come in.
Speaker 2: These cloud platforms let lots of different firms track progress,
Speaker 2: estimate quantities, measure slopes, all from the flight data, almost
Speaker 2: in real time. Think about calculating earthwork volumes for a
Speaker 2: site like Lions, Colorado. You can do that super accurately now,
Speaker 2: and photographmetry can spit out contour lines ready for CAD software.
Speaker 2: If a surveyor collects the data, it can even be
Speaker 2: survey grade accurate. Plus you get these high reds orthorrectified images,
Speaker 2: true plan view aerials, super detailed, perfect for coordination in
Speaker 2: software like blue Beam or your CAD program.
Speaker 1: I can totally see the value for measurements. But what
Speaker 1: about insights beyond just the physical shape of things?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, this is where it gets really interesting. Thermal
Speaker 2: maps they show you the heat signature of materials in
Speaker 2: real time. Imagine spotting exactly where an HVAC system is
Speaker 2: failing on a massive roof instantly, or tracing a pipeline
Speaker 2: leak from the air problems. That used to mean sending
Speaker 2: people in, maybe digging things up expensive sometimes dangerous, or
Speaker 2: plant health analysis using India VI sensors. Now mostly that's
Speaker 2: used in agriculture checking crops. But think about the potential
Speaker 2: for ecological work assessing how vegetation is recovering after say
Speaker 2: a restoration project, measuring its health and spread.
Speaker 1: That's incredible pinpointing hidden problems, even checking ecosystem health from
Speaker 1: the sky. And I know you mentioned time based comparisons
Speaker 1: saving companies millions. How does that.
Speaker 2: Work simply by reflying the exact same path over and
Speaker 2: over again. Companies monitor construction sites with incredible precision. They
Speaker 2: track progress, spot changes instantly, compare the as built reality
Speaker 2: against the plan that eighty eighth av open space project.
Speaker 2: They mentioned they track construction phases like that gave them
Speaker 2: a clear, quantifiable timeline.
Speaker 1: And speaking of visuals, photo matching that sounds like a
Speaker 1: huge help for presentations.
Speaker 2: Oh, it absolutely is. Photo matching means you take your
Speaker 2: proposed design, could be a rough sketch, a Photoshop image,
Speaker 2: a full three D model, and you precisely align it
Speaker 2: with a drone photo. It gives you unbelievably accurate context.
Speaker 2: Stakeholders can really see what the final thing will look
Speaker 2: like right there in its actual surround. The I ninety
Speaker 2: Interchange project in Billings, Montana showed that journey beautifully from
Speaker 2: two D CAD to three D SketchUp then merged perfectly
Speaker 2: into a real drone photo using Photoshop. Really compelling, and then.
Speaker 1: The really high end stuff. Drone videos with animations layered
Speaker 1: in must be complex, but wow they.
Speaker 2: Are complex, Yeah, but the results are stunning. It's basically
Speaker 2: merging your three D animations right into moving drone footage.
Speaker 2: Needs clever camera tracking, specialized software like after effects maya
Speaker 2: threads max, but the result you get this dynamic fly
Speaker 2: through that shows exactly how a design will look and
Speaker 2: feel in its environment. Something static image just can't capture.
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's say you're listening and you're convinced. You're thinking, right,
Speaker 1: we need to get into this for our firm. Let's
Speaker 1: talk brass tacks, practicalities, costs, what does it take to
Speaker 1: get started right?
Speaker 2: Justifying the investment. Usually it starts with looking at the
Speaker 2: startup costs. The book estimates a baseline of around say
Speaker 2: fifteen thousand to sixteen thousand dollars. That typically gets you
Speaker 2: the drone itself, essential insurance, and some initial training. Now
Speaker 2: you want the more advanced software like Picks four D
Speaker 2: for the photogrammetry processing, maybe Loomion for really high end visuals,
Speaker 2: then yeah, that initial cost could push up towards twenty
Speaker 2: one five hundred dollars, maybe a bit more.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a decent chunk upfront, but what about ongoing
Speaker 1: costs year two, year three?
Speaker 2: That's the good news. The annual costs after that first
Speaker 2: year drop significantly, usually around forty four hundred forty five
Speaker 2: hundred dollars plus per year. That covers things like drone maintenance,
Speaker 2: keeping your licenses, current software subscriptions. So yeah, the initial
Speaker 2: hurdle is bigger, but operating it becomes much more manageable,
Speaker 2: and how.
Speaker 1: Do firms actually make this payoff? What are the smart
Speaker 1: ways to see a return on that investment.
Speaker 2: There are clear strategies. You can obviously just build drone
Speaker 2: services directly into your project scope and build for them
Speaker 2: or included in your proposals. It really highlights your firm's
Speaker 2: tech skills, gives you an edge over competitors, and it
Speaker 2: genuinely helps collaboration and saves money down the line, Like
Speaker 2: that thirty ninth Street Greenway project using the drone aerials
Speaker 2: in Bluebeam save them a ton of time and money
Speaker 2: coordination wise.
Speaker 1: And besides the dollars and cents, what about the other
Speaker 1: benefits the intangibles.
Speaker 2: Oh, those are huge too, Client admiration, client confidence. It
Speaker 2: really matters that City Thornton Justice Center project. They apparently
Speaker 2: won the job because they showed they could use drones effectively.
Speaker 2: It just gives you a clear competitive advantage in a
Speaker 2: crowded market, and importantly, it often less you start the
Speaker 2: design process earlier. You're not always waiting weeks for a
Speaker 2: traditional survey crew. That speed could be a massive differentiator.
Speaker 1: That definitely makes a strong case. But okay, with any
Speaker 1: tech like this, especially stuff that flies, training and permissions
Speaker 1: are obviously critical. What do people absolutely need to operate
Speaker 1: commercially right?
Speaker 2: The big one in the US is the FAA's Remote
Speaker 2: Pilot Certificate. Everyone calls it the Part one zero seven license.
Speaker 2: It involves maybe forty hours of studying the rules, air safety, weather,
Speaker 2: that kind of thing, than one hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 2: exam and you have to renew it every two years
Speaker 2: to stay current. But the license is just the start.
Speaker 2: You absolutely need to budget time for software training, getting
Speaker 2: good with picks four D drone deploy that takes time,
Speaker 2: and maybe even more advanced stuff like RTK or GPS
Speaker 2: drones for super high accuracy and permissions. While getting authorization
Speaker 2: often doesn't cost money directly, the time it takes can
Speaker 2: be significant. Researching airspace, getting clients sign off, dealing with
Speaker 2: municipalities federal agencies. The book mentions what sixteen hours just
Speaker 2: for flights and Bedlands National Park, or eight hours near
Speaker 2: an airport and billings. It adds up. It's not trivial.
Speaker 1: So it's the license, the software skills and navigating the
Speaker 1: permissions mayze okay, So when you're actually choosing the gear,
Speaker 1: what drones come recommended. What features really matter for.
Speaker 2: That sweet spot of affordability and capability. The book points
Speaker 2: heavily to the Dji Phantom series like the Phantom four
Speaker 2: pro v two and the Mavic Pro series, maybe the
Speaker 2: Mavic two Pro great all rounders. If you need higher
Speaker 2: end capabilities, more payload options, then you look at the
Speaker 2: Inspire or Matrix series, And if you need that top
Speaker 2: tier GPS accuracy, there's the Dji Phantom Martik, but that's
Speaker 2: a bigger investment, like six thousand to ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Maybe key features you absolutely need. Accurate hovering is crucial. Stability,
Speaker 2: especially in wind, quick responsiveness, A quality gimbal is non
Speaker 2: negotiable for smooth data, good camera four K is pretty
Speaker 2: standard now. Smart battery management is important too. You want
Speaker 2: decent flight times and definitely compatibility with third party apps
Speaker 2: for planning those automated flights. And something fascinating they mentioned
Speaker 2: is systems like Air Data UAV. They can actually attract
Speaker 2: the health of individual battery cells, tell you if one's
Speaker 2: degrading long before you'd notice. That's pretty critical for safety
Speaker 2: and reliability.
Speaker 1: It really sounds like a whole digital ecosystem supporting these flights.
Speaker 1: What are the must have apps and desktop software.
Speaker 2: You're spot on. The software is just as vital as
Speaker 2: the drunk itself. On your phone or tablet, you need
Speaker 2: flight planning and awareness apps like Airmap, sky Vector, maybe
Speaker 2: UAV Forecast for weather. Then your actual flight control apps
Speaker 2: like dji go or maybe lichy for smoother video shots
Speaker 2: in pre programmed paths. For the automated photogrammetry flights, apps
Speaker 2: like maps Made Easy, map Pilot, Picks four y Capture
Speaker 2: or drone deploy are standard, and even on demand insurance
Speaker 2: apps like VeriFly or SkyWatch can be really useful for
Speaker 2: specific jobs. Then back on the desktop, you need your
Speaker 2: photo editing Photoshop, usually video editing maybe Camtasia Premiere pro
Speaker 2: after effects. But the real heavy lifting for processing all
Speaker 2: that data, that's the robust photogrammetry software like Picks four
Speaker 2: D or metashape.
Speaker 1: They're the work horses, and I bet processing gigabytes of
Speaker 1: photos takes some serious computer horse power.
Speaker 2: Oh definitely. Your computer hardware makes a huge difference CPU GPU,
Speaker 2: the graphics card, RAM, fast storage. They all impact how
Speaker 2: quickly you can process these massive data sets. A good
Speaker 2: photogrammetry workstation you're probably starting around three thousand dollars maybe more,
Speaker 2: and you really want to max out the RAM and
Speaker 2: get top tear components. It's not somewhere you want to skim.
Speaker 1: Okay gear software license check. But what about the actual
Speaker 1: rules of the sky that feels like it's always changing.
Speaker 1: What's the basic legal framework and what are some tricky bits?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the FAA is part one of seven rules are
Speaker 2: the foundation in the US. Key things are keep the
Speaker 2: aircraft under fifty five pounds usually flying what's called Class
Speaker 2: G airspace uncontrolled airspace. Critically, always maintain visual line of
Speaker 2: site BOS. You have to be able to see the drone.
Speaker 2: No flying directly over people or moving traffic, and stay
Speaker 2: under four hundred feet above ground level. Generally, the LANC
Speaker 2: system is a big help now for getting automated authorization
Speaker 2: to fly near many airports, which simplifies things a lot,
Speaker 2: but it can still be a patchwork state and local
Speaker 2: rules get complicated. Often they can only really regulate takeoff
Speaker 2: and landing on their own property, not the airspace itself.
Speaker 2: Creates confusion, and then DJI has its own system geozones.
Speaker 2: It's like an internal geofence. It might restrict you flying
Speaker 2: your airports or sensitive sites, and you might need to
Speaker 2: go through an unlocking process with DJI, which often also
Speaker 2: requires you have the proper FAA authorization too.
Speaker 1: So lots to navigate legally. What about protecting yourself?
Speaker 2: Your business insurance? While the FAA doesn't strictly require it
Speaker 2: for Part one oh seven, general liability insurance is something
Speaker 2: every professional user should absolutely have. It's just smart business
Speaker 2: and documentation. Always always carry your remote pilot certificate, your
Speaker 2: drone registration papers, proof of insurance, and any specific FAA
Speaker 2: waivers or authorizations you have for that flight.
Speaker 1: Keep it all together right, and finally, boots on the
Speaker 1: ground or rather drone in the air. What are the
Speaker 1: best practices that flying mindset for staying safe and getting
Speaker 1: good results?
Speaker 2: It really starts before you even take off. Pre fly
Speaker 2: planning is everything. Know your mission, check your aerospace, check
Speaker 2: your weather, check your equipment, know your drone inside and out.
Speaker 2: Before you launch, always do a quick control check at
Speaker 2: low altitude maybe ten fifteen feet, make sure everything responds correctly.
Speaker 2: Be super aware of your flight area, use your app's
Speaker 2: altitude distance from home, but also maybe even physically mark
Speaker 2: boundaries on the ground if needed. Perspectives from the air
Speaker 2: can trick you. Maintaining that visual line of sight is
Speaker 2: absolutely key. That's why having a visual observer alongside the
Speaker 2: pirate is often recommended, especially for complex flights. If you
Speaker 2: lose sight, hover immediately, don't panic, have emergency procedures planned out.
Speaker 2: What do you do if you lose radio signal, if
Speaker 2: the drone starts to fly away, if the battery gets
Speaker 2: critically low. The book's advice is good, what in doubt,
Speaker 2: just hover, give yourself time to think. And while automated
Speaker 2: flights are amazing for consistency, for capturing data precisely, always
Speaker 2: be ready to take manual control instantly. You the pilot,
Speaker 2: are ultimately responsible.
Speaker 1: It's clear this tech is just reshaping so much of
Speaker 1: how we build, how we manage the world around us.
Speaker 1: But what's next, what's coming over the horizon? What should
Speaker 1: we be watching for in drone tech?
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is maybe the most exciting bit. What's really
Speaker 2: cool is seeing drones just as these incredibly versatile platforms, right,
Speaker 2: they let us put all sorts of advanced sensors, light
Speaker 2: our thermal multi spectral NDVII into places we can never
Speaker 2: easily reach before, and way more cheaply and quickly. That
Speaker 2: adaptability is just unlocking totally new applications.
Speaker 1: Like what give us some examples of these ed juices.
Speaker 2: Okay, so beyond farming those NDVII sensors, people are looking
Speaker 2: at using them for really detailed ecological studies, identifying plant
Speaker 2: species automatically, and really complex habitats. We're seeing highly specialized
Speaker 2: drones doing things like gasleak detection, flying along pipelines, checking
Speaker 2: industrial sites. Super specialized and yet expensive. Those can be
Speaker 2: forty thousand dollars fifty thousand dollars plus. And then there
Speaker 2: are AI companies like a Copgeospatial. They can take aerial imagery,
Speaker 2: drone or otherwise and automatically generate super accurate cadline work
Speaker 2: like drawing all the curbs, building outlines, vegetation edges automatically.
Speaker 2: That could save firms incredible amounts of drafting time and money.
Speaker 1: Wow, automatic CAD generation, that's a huge efficiency leap. What
Speaker 1: else is pushing the envelope?
Speaker 2: Well, you're starting to see these automated drone boxes basically
Speaker 2: a charging station and hangar combo left on site. It
Speaker 2: allows operators potentially thousands of miles away to launch, fly,
Speaker 2: and recover a drone remotely, talk about pushing regulatory boundaries
Speaker 2: for autonomous flight, and of course delivery that's becoming real. Google, Amazon,
Speaker 2: They're already getting FA certifications to deliver packages.
Speaker 1: That's happening now, packages flying to the door. Wild What
Speaker 1: about security, public safety?
Speaker 2: Definitely, drones are becoming security tools, better home surveillance, police
Speaker 2: using them for reconnaissance, finding missing people in search and rescue.
Speaker 2: Huge potential there. And then the one that might seem
Speaker 2: furthest out, but maybe isn't. Passenger drones services like Uber Air.
Speaker 2: They're already doing test flights in places like Dallas, La Melbourne.
Speaker 2: It really hints the drone taxis might actually be a
Speaker 2: thing sooner than say, fully driverless cars on our roads. Oh,
Speaker 2: which makes you wonder, right, how are you going to
Speaker 2: prepare for that shift? How will cities adapt to this
Speaker 2: new layer of mobility.
Speaker 1: It's really clear from this whole conversation drones aren't just
Speaker 1: toys anymore, not just military gear. There are serious professional
Speaker 1: tools that are fundamentally transforming architecture, engineering, construction. They're boosting efficiency,
Speaker 1: giving us data we never had totally new ways to
Speaker 1: see and lies managed projects. It really is a paradigm shift.
Speaker 2: So yeah, the question becomes, if drones open up these
Speaker 2: new ways of seeing, these new capabilities, how will you
Speaker 2: use this technology. How can you leverage it to innovate,
Speaker 2: to solve problems in your own work, maybe even just
Speaker 2: in how you look at the world day to day.
Speaker 2: How does this new perspective change your approach?
Speaker 1: It really feels like we're right at the forefront of
Speaker 1: something incredible. So yeah, keep that remote pilot certificate up
Speaker 1: to date, keep exploring the new software, the new hardware,
Speaker 1: share what you learn with others in the field, and
Speaker 1: honestly have some fun with it. It's an exciting time
Speaker 1: to be involved in this tech revolution.