Written by Jared Haube, for Commercial UAV 2014.
Companies that employ a cross-functional approach not only need to strengthen capability, but integrate that technology by aligning FSM goals to the organisational strategy.
Ahead of Commercial UAV 2014, I caught up with Ben Somerville, spatial systems manager at Thiess Pty Ltd to get his insights into the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and GIS with Thiess’ FSM strategy.
Ben is involved in the construction of the Hunter Expressway, a $1.7 billion four-lane freeway link between the F3 Freeway near Seahampton, and the New England Highway west of Braxton.
Thiess employed UAV (the SenseFly model) to capture visual records of different sections of the Expressway, flying up and down the corridor. The company has also recently purchased the Mavinci (fixed wing), Aibotix (chopper) and a DJI Phantom.
“Not only do we use UAV to obtain progress records, but also to generate digital elevation models and, in the future, calculations around stockpiles. When we are undertaking earthworks we need to determine what quantities are moved,” Ben notes.
The information captured by UAV is transferred back to a central GIS server. It’s subsequently distributed to the whole-of-project via web maps and made available to field devices (including iPhones, Androids and Windows technology) controlled by related project teams. Thiess is also focused on improving accessibility to GIS field mapping. Ben says:
“We have continued down the path of disconnected capabilities so that our end user base can take these maps offline. Our projects are not always in a connected environment, with various pockets of disruptions to 4G coverage or even 3G for that matter.”
The path of disconnected capabilities to which Ben refers, reflects the inconsistent network coverage in Australia and the inherent nature of GIS data as ‘big data.’ Attempting to move that data around has its own challenges. One of the goals at Thiess is to reduce the scope of accessible information and ensure that staff only interact with relevant data.
Interestingly, there wasn’t as much of a compatibility issue for integrating the data captured by UAV with the smart devices used by field staff. Thiess uses COTS GIS software, advanced to the point that it caters to Windows, Android and iOS.
Integrating drone technology with GIS reflects a unique trend that companies are moving towards; enabling integration of new technology with existing systems.
Counties Power, an electricity distribution company in New Zealand responsible for 2,220 square kilometres and 37,400 consumers, is strongly considering the application of UAV for aerial imagery.
Richard Deihl, Business Systems Developer at Counties Power, notes that: “When a car crashes into one of our power poles, we could launch the drone, send it to the GPS co-ordinates of the pole, have it circle around, take pictures and video and send them back well before anybody could get out there.”
The drones would potentially be placed at sub stations and launched to capture early incident information in the event of a critical occurrence.
The increasing interest in the development and application of UAV indicates a new stage of innovation for field service management and mobility. It also strongly corresponds to not only technology improvements, but operational efficiency.
Ben Sommerville will be speaking at the Commercial UAV conference, held in Brisbane on 28-30 October 2014.
For more information, visit the Commercial UAV Conference website , or download the brochure and check out the full program.
To register or make an enquiry, please call + 61 (2) 9229 1000 or email enquire@iqpc.com.au.
You can also join our LinkedIn group Commercial UAV Australia to be part of topical discussions and networking opportunities.
Name: Commercial UAV
Time: TBA
Date: 28-30 October 2014
Venue: Pullman Brisbane King George Square
Address: Roma St, Brisbane QLD 4000
Cost: TBD
Event Website: http://waww.commercialuavs.com.au/
