Need a Quick Inspection of a 58-Story Tower? Send a Drone

The New York Times reports on how drones are saving money and time on big construction projects, while also increasing safety for workers on site. "On building sites, drones are saving money and time by providing digital images, maps and other files that can be shared in a matter of minutes, said Mike Winn, the chief executive of DroneDeploy, a company founded five years ago in San Francisco that creates software for, among other uses, operating drones with mobile apps. Drones are reducing the travel time for busy executives, Mr. Winn said. 'The head office can see what’s going on, and the safety team, the costing team, the designers — all of them can contribute to the project, share data and comment on it, without actually going to the job.' They could also improve safety, too. In the days before drones, Mr. Winn said, measuring the roof of a house for solar panels would require 'a guy with a tape measure to climb up there,' which often produced inaccurate results and, like anything involving heights, was dangerous."

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The article in its entirety can be read here.