Manned v Unmanned By Spatial Source on 10 October, 2017 **...

Manned v Unmanned

By Spatial Source on 10 October, 2017

** Nearmap comes up twice in this story...

Think drone surveys are going to replace manned aircraft? Erron Gardner uses both and says you should think again.
With the drone industry’s marketing machine in full swing, you could be forgiven for thinking that unmanned aircraft are far more economical at capturing remotely sensed data than manned aircraft.
The remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) industry has pitched their machines to be the perfect mapping solution, especially over smaller to medium sized projects. After all, everybody knows that manned aircraft are extremely expensive to operate, right?
Surprisingly, this is not necessarily the case, and manned data capture even on small to medium projects can often be just as, or even more, cost effective than the RPAS solution. Articles appear regularly about new developments in RPAS technology, but little if any is heard about advancements in manned survey systems. So let’s have a look at the available RPAS technology, the advancements in manned aerial survey and how these stack up against each other.

https://www.spatialsource.com.au/unmanned/manned-v-unmanned