Drone

A drone is an unmanned aircraft controlled either by remote control or an on-board computer.

Photo courtesy: Adventure Blueprint

Drones can be used for a number of tasks relevant to Council operations, including:

• collection of aerial photography
• aerial surveying
• inspection of hard to access assets
• promotional videos

Into the future drones may also play a role in maintaining and constructing assets.

The University of Leeds in the UK is currently working with the City of Leeds to develop maintenance drones and robots capable of repair things like potholes and broken street lights.

East Gippsland Shire Council

East Gippsland Shire Council is using drones for a number of purposes ¹³, including:

• land surveys,
• building surveys,
• inspections of assets such as trees and bridges,
• weed infestation identification,
• natural disaster evaluations,
• tourism videos.

East Gippsland is also one of the first Councils in Australia to develop a drone policy.

Noosa Shire Council

Noosa Shire Council is using drones for building condition assessments.⁷

Lake Macquarie City Council

Lake Macquarie City Council is using drones for shark surveillance.¹⁰

Western Downs Regional Council

Western Downs Regional Council is looking at a number of ways of using drones and is holding a Drone Industry Forum and UAV Challenge for the second time in 2018.

Yarra Ranges Council

Yarra Ranges Shire Council is using drones for tree inspections. ¹⁴

Related Pages

• Driverless Vehicle
• Local Government Future Technology Special Interest Group
• Quadrotor

Collaborators

The following people have indicated (via the Local Government Collaboration Topics Survey) that they have an interest and/or expertise in the topic of 'drones' and are willing to collaborate with their peers at other councils to identify challenges and resources relating to the topic and to look for ways to work together to overcome any challenges that are identified.

• Ben Clark (City of Tea Tree Gully)
• Charles Taveira (City of Greater Dandenong)
• Chris Saunders (Glenelg Shire)
• Indivar Dhakal (Loddon Shire)
• James Meakes (City of Busselton) ^E
• John van Nieuwkerk (Corangamite Shire)
• Kamal Ranaweera (City of Logan)
• Kanishka Gunasekara (Ararat Rural City Council)
• Johnathon Roach (Open Spatial) ^EL
• Natalie Tubbs (Moira Shire) ^E
• Quenten Graham (Swan Hill Rural City Council)
• Sanket Kargathra (City of Maribyrnong)
• Wayne Eddy (City of Whittlesea)

Contributors

The following site members have contributed to this page:

• Wayne Eddy

External Links & References

1. Wikipedia
2. Google Search
3. Melbourne Water Drone Inspections
4. How drones are poised to help build the cities of tomorrow - Gizmag (March 2015)
5. Drones autonomously build a walkable rope bridge - Gizmag (September 2015)
6. Researchers developing drones to autonomously repair the cities of the future - Gizmag (September 2015)
7. Noosa using drones for building condition assessments
8. Propelus Structural Inspection Page
9. Altitude UAV
10. Lake Macquarie UAV shark surveillance Program
11. Measure Australia
12. Dalby Drone Industry Forum and UAV Challenge
13. Trained pilots ready to save council money
14. A Drone's Eye View - Yarra Ranges Council
15. Robots, drones and lasers to take over Brisbane's maintenance jobs - Brisbane Times (August 2017)
16. 192 Future Uses for Flying Drones - Thomas Frey (September 2017)