Company Services / FAQ

FAQs

What is photogrammetry? 

Photogrammetry is the science of making precise measurements from photographs. We are able produce photographs at a far higher resolution than can typically be achieved with traditional aircraft based aerial surveys and from these produce a variety of data products including 3D building models. The result is similar to that produced by laser scans but at a fraction of the cost.

What applications does Tech Center Guam focus on?

Tech Center Guam focuses on commercial applications where the use of aerial image/video data yields discernable, incremental value to customers and where the benefits of using drones clearly exceed all of the associated costs. While there are many viable applications for drone technology, this framing has led us to focus on the following industries and applications:  stockpile management, aerial 3D mapping,  digital surface modeling, digital terrain modeling, georeferenced imagery, drone data acquisition, inspection and asset monitoring, etc.

What specific benefits do drone applications offer to the commercial marketplace?

Safety: Allowing for access to dangerous, hard to reach or hazardous areas without the need to put people or equipment at risk

Timeliness: Drones reduce the time from data collection to decision making

Accuracy: Data collected via drones has shown to be as good as, if not better, than traditional collection methods

Quality Data: Improves decision making and also provides an archive of images and/or videos to document conditions at specific points in time

Data Archive: Aerial imaging provides a valuable archive of images and video data that is easily archived and readily available for queries

1st Person Perspective: Consistent images for all constituents to review

Frequency: Given the ease and greater availability of drone derived data, business leaders can now have access to more data points to enhance decision making

Cost Savings: In virtually all use cases, aerial data collected via drones is less expensive than traditional alternative methods

Why use a drone service company like Tech center Guam?

Customers, large and small, notoriously start the conversation by asking, “Can’t we just buy our own drone and do this ourselves?”  Many have experimented, some have crashed and the majority have concluded that flying drones to collect actionable data is not their core business and have returned to the conversation to explore the benefits of using a drone services provider. Some of the many reasons to use a Drone Services Provider include:

• Skill: Despite many advances in the capabilities of drone technology, the fact remains that flying drones Safely and Responsibly is a learned skill and our pilots who fly drones on a daily basis are clearly better than those that fly only intermittently.

• Safety: Protecting property, assets and people are of utmost importance to all. Reducing the potential of catastrophic consequence from a drone mishap with proper training, equipment maintenance and situational/environmental knowledge is of critical importance.

• Try Before You Buy: Understanding how to integrate aerial data into your company’s existing workflow takes time, experimentation and often involves running both processes in parallel.

• Resource Optimization – In most companies, employee’s plates are usually pretty full. At an early stage of adoption, is adding “drone guy/gal” to their job description the most efficient use of resources?

• Regulatory Compliance – The FAA has a plethora of rules and regulations that one must adhere to in order to operate drones for commercial purposes. Both understanding all of their rules and then complying with them is a significant undertaking.

• Insurance – Most commercial insurance policies exclude aviation risk. A company operating drones for commercial purposes requires separate aviation insurance coverage.

• Equipment – Not only selecting the right equipment, sensors/cameras and software for your intended tasks but then using it frequently enough to get the value from your purchase is challenging in a market where the equipment is experiencing rapid technological change. Utilizing a drone services provider mitigates the equipment obsolesce risk and significantly lowers your upfront capital outlays.

• Software – Keeping current with drone software updates on the drone equipment, which occur frequently, are essential to flying safely and responsibly.

• Data Processing – Collecting high quality aerial images is just the beginning. Converting these images into finished products requires significant skills and expensive photogrammetry and editing software combined with powerful and costly computing resources.

What segments of industry benefit from UAV services and drone services?

All segments of the business and commercial industry benefit from drone applications as well as DOD and civilian military contractors.