BIM-friendly end-to-end drone service launched

UK-based software supplier Esri has partnered up with drone specialist Heliguy to develop an end-to-end drone service to the construction industry.

The affiliation aims to produce drone hardware for customers, alongside pilot training and flying services from Heliguy. This is in addition to Esri’s existing drone flight planning, data caputure, data processing and GIS software.

Both firms are to collaborate on joint projects with the aim of introducing new and more efficient workflows. They plan to do this by bringing together customers’ GIS and survey teams who traditionally would work separately on projects relating to drones.

Craig Evenden, head of AEC & BIM at Esri UK, said that the company have spent heavily to create their drone technology and the new relationship helps to complete the picture in the UK. Drone usage is on the rise in the UK and has been further accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AEC community demands more integrated programmes with the ability to easily grow across their business. Heliguy has huge amounts of experience as well as training capabilities, couple this with Esri’s cloud-based drone and GIS software and it is a perfect match for the industry’s new enterprise requirements.

Ruairi Hardman, Heliguy’s business development manager, explained that the AEC drone industry is still pretty much in its infancy and sees many projects with no proper joined-up internal approach, ultimately leading to their demise. Internal drone programmes that can be scaled across a whole business are considered a relatively new phenomenon. Research has shown that robust and standardised drone workflows that are designed for the long-term can lead to efficiency gains of between 1 and 2%. This translates not millions of pounds on large-scale construction projects.