International praise for drones
Peter Wimsett and Ray Borrie of Tararua District Council have been invited to be on the panel at an international conference on drones in Brisbane this month.
This follows other national and international recognition for TDC’s usage of drones, featuring in three pages of the Local Government magazine and in an international software provider Pix4D article entitled Smart Cities Initiatives and Drones: Tales of a Perfect Partnership. TDC was also in the Pix4D Hall of Fame in December 2017 for its rendering of the Dannevirke Settlers Cemetery.
This is only one example of the multiple purposes the drones have been used for.
The TDC drone was used to carry a light rope across a gully to help Scanpower erect a cable, but it is in its capacity to record images, especially in remote spots to assist in planning and mitigation of issues where the drone has the most application.
When Dannevirke’s water supply source became turbid in June the drone detected one of the two streams feeding the Impounded Supply was dirty, and further investigation is now being carried out as to the reason.
To identify locations of heat loss at Wai Splash Pool the drone was fitted with an infrared camera and soon discovered the source of loss was the changing rooms.
Volumetric analysis is now much easier, the council says. In Pahiatua the drone photographed the site on Tudor Road behind the new transfer station so that the piles of fill could be assessed, allowing contractors to accurately price the cost of removal.
The result was a 3D image and from it the fill was worked out to be 278cu m, making the scope of the task much easier.
Long-term planning involving flood plain modelling and slip monitoring with drone footage is now much easier too, and upgraded aerial photos can be sent to government sources and Google Maps.
Sudden natural events which affect infrastructure can be assessed quickly using drone footage so that the task can be assessed accurately and repairs made. TDC has a tool to show councillors the before and after pictures of expenditure.
These images are increasingly becoming available to the public on the Sketchfab/ Tararua and TDC/Online Maps/ Aerials websites.
While Peter and Ray are off to Australia soon, they both commend the work of Blair Rogers who has worked for the TDC for nearly 19 years.
He has pioneered the development of software to translate the drone images for various uses.
Now employed by Master Business Systems he works for TDC three days per week and finds it very rewarding.
“While lots of councils own drones, the Tararua District Council is well ahead of the game in putting the information to practical use,” he says.
Peter Wimsett hopes his trip to the Australian conference will expose even better technology to keep it that way.