The Drone Revolution in Spatial Analysis

Date: 

Thu - Fri, Apr 27 to Apr 28, 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: 

Belfer Case Study Room (Thursday, April 27) and Tsai Auditorium (Friday, April 28); CGIS South 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

 

2017 CGA Conference: The Drone Revolution in Spatial Analysis

Unarmed Aerial Systems (UAS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or simply “Drones”, represent a new type of remote sensing platform which is inexpensive, easy to use, and provides users with many new options regarding where, when, and how geospatial imagery and data is collected. As the technology proliferates, it is revolutionizing both spatial data collection and geographic analysis. This paradigm shift brings new perspectives to a wide range of application fields, and calls for new skills, best practices, regulations, policies, ethics, and more.

This conference aims at illuminating the profound changes drones have brought to mapping practice, from platform and sensor selection, flight path planning, field operations, data processing, image analysis, feature extraction, 3-D model construction, and visualization. Experts will share their experiences with application cases and first-hand operational logistics.

The event will start with a half-day hands-on demo and training workshop Thursday afternoon, followed by a full day of plenary sessions on Friday, which will include a keynote address, presentation sessions, panel discussions, and closing remarks. Invited speakers will engage with the audience in discussions on the current status, achievements, lessons learned, unmet needs, challenges, potentials, and perspectives of drones in spatial data collection and analysis, particularly as it relates to academic research and learning.