A mapping job that would have taken three and a half years has been reduced to just 20 days. The reason for this optimization has a name: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or simply drone, a nickname that has caught on with enthusiasts of the new technology.
The Baiano Federal Institute (IF Baiano) is using the equipment in a pioneering project: the preparation of a Digital Atlas that will have three main objectives: in its first phase, the Nauru UAV will map the 14 campuses spread across Bahia (with areas ranging from 50 to 1,000 hectares) in order to provide information related to infrastructure, topography, permanent preservation areas, legal reserve areas, among other data. Once this stage is completed, the data collected will guide all the expansion planning for the units, which are in the midst of a growth phase. Finally, the Atlas will be made available on the internet so that both public and government bodies (such as the Ministry of Education - MEC) and other interested parties can consult information related to the Institute's physical infrastructure and human aspects, such as the courses offered, the number of students and the teaching staff.
We want to make history by ensuring that new technologies pass through the hands of the students and are converted for use by the population. We did a study and came to the conclusion that mapping data, with the help of GPS and other similar tools, would take at least three and a half years. With the UAV we hope to reduce this stage to 20 days. More than optimizing the work, we are turning the drone into a research and extension tool, says the project's creator, the IF Baiano's Dean of Research, Postgraduate Studies and Innovation, Vandemberg Salvador.
Student participation is also considered by the pro-rector to be an important step in the development of the Atlas. He explains that each stage of the project will involve students from related disciplines. For example, many of the APPs are partially degraded. And, rather than identifying them, the Institute will also take care of restoring these areas. In the same way, students from surveying courses will be involved in mapping, and those from zootechnics in actions related to agricultural areas, says Vandemberg.