The drone’s eye: applications and implications for landscape architecture

Abstract

Introduction: the satellite's gaze As the most 'grounded' of the arts, landscape architecture has a more restrained legacy of engagement with technological innovation than other design disciplines. This reticence is partially a consequence of landscape architecture's customary role as ameliorator of the negative impacts of industrialization. It also results from working with the medium of the real landscape, whose unruly nature tends to resist both straightforward representation and technological fashion (Kullmann 2014; St-Denis 2007). Nevertheless, innovation in mapping and imaging technology has clearly influenced the evolution of landscape architectural theory and practice. In the twentieth century, both the modern theodolite and aeroplane photography transformed the way in which landscape architects imaged, and hence designed, the landscape. Whereas the surveyor's precise triangulation abstracted a site into discrete features, the aeroplane's orthophotos provided intriguing glimpses into the material landscape of continuity and interconnectedness (Anker 2001).

Leveraging innovation technologies to respond to malaria: a systematized literature review of emerging technologies

“…In Zanzibar, drones have been used to spray rice fields with a thin, non-toxic film as a strategy to eliminate mosquitoes. The review has shown that drones are a possible solution in malaria control programmes as also indicated in other studies [45,46]. The review also showed that rapid diagnostics tools offer fast turnaround services while circumventing obstacles faced when using microscopy in peripheral health care settings, including cost of equipment, reagents, and the need for electricity and skilled personnel [47].…”

“…The review has shown that this has been used in several countries for example in Malawi and near Lake Victoria using DJI Phantom; low-cost drones that survey wilderness to find mosquito breeding grounds using Geospatial technology. Geospatial technology is rapidly evolving and now can be archived using remotely sensed data [45]. In Zanzibar, drones have been used to spray rice fields with a thin, non-toxic film as a strategy to eliminate mosquitoes.…”

Drone imagery to create a common understanding of landscapes

“…While maps and aerial images have been used as boundary objects in environmental decision-making and participatory planning for a long time (Chambers, 2006), dronesor unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAV, Joyce, Anderson, & Bartolo, 2021) have the potential to improve the accessibility of aerial views to decision-makers and the wider public (Kullmann, 2018). Participatory mapping approaches have been influencing land use planning increasingly (Eilola, Käyhkö, Ferdinands, & Fagerholm, 2019;Jaligot, Hasler, & Chenal, 2019).…”

Remotely piloted aircraft-based landfill monitoring

“…With the unmanned aerial vehicle (Remotely Piloted Aircraft -RPA -English term adopted by the Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC, 2018), less time is spent taking these landfill surface measurements, with less risk to operators (Rossi et al, 2018). With the RPA, you can obtain digitally georeferenced images with high resolution that can be converted into three-dimensional topographic models (Kullmann, 2018). Thus, the images obtained with the RPA can serve as a basis for monitoring and controlling these landfills (Chaidas et al, 2018).…”