Starter Kit. Idea 314 of 500. Cluster 15
Drone-mapping and survey services for construction and agriculture
The mechanism, from the book
The proof exists in Malabe. What is missing is a thousand small versions of it.
The first step
Borrow or hire a mapping drone for a day and, with the owner's permission, map one construction site or estate. Process the images into an aerial map with an area or volume measurement, then show it to the site engineer or estate manager and to two contractors nearby, and quote a per-visit price. A second paid visit is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A construction site engineer who needs a progress survey every month and pays per visit, rather than sending a survey team.
- What leaves today
- Survey work is done slowly on foot, and the measurements that would save cost on a site are taken too late or not at all.
Ask first
- the Divisional Secretariat. Ask which office gives clearance to fly a survey drone in this area.
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask whether mapping work over public land in the area needs permission.
Check before you spend
Which permission is needed to fly a drone for paid work, the landowner's written consent, and insurance in case the drone damages people or property.
Find out these three numbers
- What does a site engineer pay for a survey done the old way?
- How often would one site want a fresh map?
- What does hiring a mapping drone and software cost each day?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.