Adam Klaptocz

Using mapping drones for disaster prevention & response

Co-founder and President Head of Hardware and

Mechanical Engineering

How does a mapping

drone work?

01 Flight planning (via simple automated software)

02 Hand launched

03 Autonomous flight & image capture

04 Automated image processing (producing 2D orthomosaics, digital elevation models and even…)

… full 3D point clouds

3 case studies…

How can drone-sourced data and maps help?

Typhoon Yolanda (Leyte, Philippines) 11.8.2013

01Post-disaster needs assessment & relocation planning

Up to

80%of homes damaged

Countless

livelihoods

destroyed

Mapping drones used to give an up-to-date, accurate picture of people’s communities

Involving them directly in the assessment effort

Producing highly detailed maps for community leaders to start using the very next day

An example high-resolution orthomosaic

Highly accurate, up-to-date data on which to base important planning decisions…

Allowing leaders like the Mayor of Tacloban to understand the effects of the disasteron the worst hit, often informal, communities

The Mayor’s previous map, showing plots due to be developed by a wide range of donors

The orthomosaic (hosted online) the Mayor can now use to coordinate relocation efforts

Fukushima tsunami & nuclear disaster 3.11.2011

02Reconstruction monitoring

Removing radioactive topsoil in Iidate village (N.W. of Fukushima)

Tsunami damage in Hisanohama

3years on…many towns like Tomiokahave yet to be Reconstructed & satellite imagery is out of date

Time to launch

A drone-sourced high-resolution orthomosaic (take-off point in blue)

Used by local gov. for

town planning &

reconstruction tracking

Port-au-Prince, Haiti April 2013

03Preparation and prevention

A dry riverbed in Port-au-Prince, home to a popular market that is susceptible to flooding

3 drones were used to map 45 km2

This knowledge was used to mitigate flood

damage…

… by identifying where to place measures to slow erosion and increase water absorption

Drone-sourced geospatial data

is already here

• Cost-effective

• Immediate

• High-resolution

• 3D

How will you use it?