INTEGRATING UAV INTO GEOMATICS CURRICULUM

Abstract. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have gained tremendous interest as a platform for surveying and mapping over the last few years, and have opened up a new realm of opportunities for surveying, orthophoto production, 3D modelling and feature extraction. UAVs provide a viable and affordable alternative for the airborne and space borne sensors for the medium/large scale mapping. This paper argues that universities should expand their education and training programs to include UAV-based geomatics operations and application development. Based on the author’s own experience as well other cases, details are developed and presented in this paper with respect to the likely syllabi and practical assignments. Alternatives for hardware and software support will be briefly discussed.