Drones, Aerial Photography and GSB

GSB looking north into Morris county - May 26, 2015

   This week, Greg and Josh from SkyVue were on campus with a drone.  Drones, of course, are pilotless aircraft. They can be be incredibly useful but are not without controversy. To some, they are the very embodiment of technological utility. To others, they represent the worst of technology: the soulless machine.
    Safe to say SkyVue's drone was making a positive contribution.  The drone's mission was to photograph campus from an aerial perspective. With a high resolution camera mounted to the remote controlled drone, a set of photographs were generated that offered crystal clear panoramic shots of our campus.  On a beautiful day in May, GSB really shines!

SkyVue's drone, getting ready to take flight.

    But before we take look at our drone and it's work, you might be interested to consider the impact drones are having in fields as wide ranging as commerce, agriculture and the military.  The weekly news program 60 Minutes made a splash earlier with a story about Amazon's plans to use drones to deliver products. The story was posted on the cbsnews site and includes a link to the 60 Minutes video.  And more recently, the New York Times ran a story on farmers using drones to do flyovers so they could assess the state of their crops. Weed, water and harvest management are all more efficiently accomplished using pilotless craft outfitted with a camera.  But their actions are often in violation of FAA regulations, and this has set off a debate over commercial drone regulation. Over the winter, a New Yorker piece took a close look at the use of drones by the military.  An increasing number of military air missions into combat zones are done by pilotless craft. Often the personnel at the controls is housed thousands of miles away, joystick in hand. This relatively new form of air strikes leaves some to wonder how warfare is evolving.
   Yes, drones deserve our thought and attention, but we can also marvel at how they can solve certain problems with efficiency. If, for instance, you wanted spectacular aerial panoramic photographs of the Gill St. Bernard's School campus, then a drone offers a perfect delivery system.  Here's a brief video of SkyVue's drone in action:

    And those photos mentioned at the end of the video?  Take a look at the opening shot to this post, and a couple more below....

Our newly acquired pond, part of the Homewinds campus.

In the foreground, disassembled playground equipment 
in preparation for field house construction.
Beyond, recreational facilities and campus buildings.