Drone Use In Property Appraisal
Unmanned aircraft maintain significant cultural presence. Military applications include reconnaissance and supply delivery, counter-terrorism operations, and tactical surveillance consideration by police forces. Commercial uses have been proposed for food delivery services.
Military origins trace to aerial gunnery practice, though monopoly on this technology has ended. Civilian and commercial applications are expanding rapidly.
Unmanned systems excel at tasks unsuitable for manned aircraft — the industry's "4-Ds": dull, difficult, dirty, or dangerous work. Remote operators can work in shifts from distant locations, enabling extended missions while avoiding pilot exposure to hazardous environments.
Additional advantages include operation beneath cloud ceilings restricting manned aircraft, minimal infrastructure requirements, deployment flexibility from remote locations or ships, and extreme portability — some systems fit in briefcases or resemble insects.
However, strict FAA regulations currently prohibit commercial unmanned aircraft operations without special waivers. Existing rules date to 1981 and govern model aircraft. Congress addressed this through the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, directing standards implementation by 2015.
Industry projections anticipate significant growth: as many as 10,000 unmanned aircraft could be flying in the national airspace within 5 years, creating 100,000 jobs and $13.7 billion for the U.S. economy.
Countries with permissive regulations already deploy drones extensively for property mapping and surveying. Drone technology promises revolutionary changes in property mapping and assessment through high-resolution cameras, on-demand imagery collection, and emerging 3D computer rendering capabilities from oblique aerial photography.
A Transformative Technology
Remote sensing capabilities enable surveyors, mappers, and assessors to collect superior imagery with greater frequency and flexibility. Real-world demonstrations already exist.
University of Alaska Fairbanks leads unmanned system applications, leveraging decades of airspace management experience from rocket operations. Projects include oil infrastructure monitoring, wildlife population studies (seal and sea lion counts), archaeological surveying, search-and-rescue operations, wildfire monitoring, and property surveying for Alaska Native villages.
System capabilities continue advancing rapidly. Recent sea lion surveys in the Aleutian Islands demonstrated quad-copter performance in extreme weather (rain, snow, high winds), producing high-resolution mosaics enabling biologists to identify individual animals by sex and track branded specimens. Vertical takeoff and landing capacity enables flexible ship-based deployment.
The Future of Property Assessment
Property assessment through unmanned aircraft approaches practical reality. Drones enable more frequent, efficient, and effective assessor operations. Outstanding operational and legal challenges remain regarding safe national airspace integration with manned aircraft. Regulatory frameworks lag technological advancement, addressing both safety and misuse prevention.
The transformative potential fundamentally challenges existing standards. Unmanned aircraft have already altered aerial data collection methodology, with future developments unfolding presently.
