Drone mapping to keep forests healthy in Canada

Forests are a vital natural resource, and drone data holds the potential to help preserve them amidst diseases and invasive species. But few drones can take off and land in the middle of the forest, and the few that can are not able to cover enough land. Luckily, WingtraOne rises to both of these challenges.

Last summer, Orix Geoscience Inc surveyed 6000 ha (16,000 ac) of the Medway Community Forest in Nova Scotia, Canada,in just two weeks using WingtraOne. The survey demoed a large-scale dense forest project with the MicaSense RedEdge payload.

“This was an important project to see the savings WingtraOne provides,” said Aaron Francis, GIS analyst at Orix Geoscience.

As they gathered data, Francis said the experience was smooth given the environment: “We were hiking sometimes a couple of kilometers into the forest. There weren’t any roads. In the end, we didn’t have any crashes over 73 flights—WingtraOne did really well in that type of terrain.”

Orix provided insight on disease spread, species count, and overall forest health via the rich data collected.