Esri, McKim & Creed and 3DR Present Results of UAS Proof of Concept for Coastal Survey

Raleigh, NC—On June 26 at the Esri Imaging and Mapping Forum in San Diego, Esri and McKim & Creed, Inc. will present the results of a proof of concept conducted last month along the North Carolina coast in which several local, state and federal agencies tested the feasibility of using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for beach monitoring surveys.

Municipalities use beach monitoring surveys to prepare for extreme, shore-altering weather events such as hurricanes. Typically, survey data has been collected using conventional land surveying methodologies, aerial LiDAR and hydrographic surveying. The purpose of the proof of concept, held on May 16 to coincide with National Hurricane Preparedness Week, was to determine if UAS data collection can yield a comparable-quality deliverable quicker and more cost effectively than traditional methods.

Redlands, California-based Esri and McKim & Creed, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, co-hosted the proof of concept at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. McKim & Creed, a nationally recognized geomatics and engineering firm with extensive experience in both UAS and conventional surveying, performed the data collection using 3DR’s Solo platform and SiteScan software. Esri, the world’s largest geographical information systems (GIS) company, processed the data using its Drone2Map software.

Kurt Schwoppe, business development for imagery at Esri, Jason Nyberg, senior project manager with McKim & Creed, Todd King, business developer with McKim & Creed, and Keith Bigelow, vice president of 3DR’s enterprise division, will present the proof of concept findings at Esri’s Imaging and Mapping Forum, which will be held June 25-26 in San Diego.

About McKim & Creed: McKim & Creed is an employee-owned engineering, surveying and planning firm with nearly 400 staff members in offices throughout the U.S., including North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and Pennsylvania. McKim & Creed specializes in civil, environmental, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural engineering; industrial design-build services; airborne and mobile LiDAR/scanning; unmanned aerial systems; subsurface utility engineering; and hydrographic and conventional surveying services for the energy, transportation, federal, land development, water and building markets. The firm was recently ranked the #1 surveying and mapping firm in the U.S. by ENR Southeast magazine. For more information about McKim & Creed, visit www.mckimcreed.com.