DroneCamp is a premiere five-day training program that covers everything you need to know to use drones for mapping and data collection.

Now in its eighth year, Drone Camp 2024 will once again provide a unique drone training opportunity designed for a wide range of skill levels and interests, from complete beginners with little to no experience in drone technology, to intermediate users who want to learn more advanced data processing and analysis.

DroneCamp started out as an IGIS workshop, but has evolved into a highly collaborative program with instructors coming from 8 campuses including UC ANR, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, Lakeland College, and American River College.

 

DroneCamp 2024 will be held in-person at CSU Monterey Bay June 24-28, 2024. Scholarships to cover the registration fee are available for all ANR academics and staff - but you must apply soon! More info available at DroneCampCA.org.

 

There is some potentially big news for drone users within the university systems that came out last week.  Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 on Thursday December 14th, which includes provisions restricting the use of Chinese drones in connection with almost all federal grant funding.  This bill will very likely be signed by the President later in the year, and while there could still be some adjustments, as the bill pertains to drones, any forthcoming changes are very unlikely at this point.

Specifically, Title 18, Subtitle B, Sections 1821-1833 will prohibit all Federal Agencies from purchasing any drone made in China, and will sunset all operations of Chinese drones in two (2) years. This will apply to all federal grants (Section 1825).  Beginning two years after the enactment of this Act, except as provided in subsection (b) pertaining to the one exception of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), no Federal funds awarded through a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement, or otherwise made available may be used to procure a covered unmanned aircraft system that is manufactured or assembled in China; or in connection with the operation of such a drone or unmanned aircraft system.

This legislation also requires the development of new federal wide policy on the purchase of drones (including grants/contracts). Likely this will be some version of the BlueSUAS list (vetted by DoD for security) that will be the new standard.  We will have to wait and see how this unfolds.

For now, assuming the current NDAA compliance requirements, we only have the following platform recommendations for multispectral/photogrammetry operations using federal funds.  However, hopefully new authorized technology will be forthcoming soon.

• eBee X (~$13k) fixed-wing, Cat 3 OOP, but requires laptop in field
• Wingtra Gen II (~$36k), VTOL with forward flight
• Freefly Astro (~$32k mapping package), multi-rotor, 1.5kg payload capacity
• Aurelia X6 Pro V2 (~$22k NDAA compliant package, no payload), 6kg payload capacity

For more information, please consider signing up for office hours with the UC ANR IGIS Statewide Program: 
https://igis.ucanr.edu/Office_Hours/

or refer to resources through UC Unmanned Aircraft System Safety site:
https://www.ucop.edu/safety-and-loss-prevention/environmental/program-resources/unmanned-aircraft-systems-safety.html

 

Maps for Cooperative Extension

Settling into a new county can be challenging. One has to figure out where things are, how to get from A to B, and where the greatest needs and opportunities are.

To help new Cooperative Extension Advisors navigate these waters, IGIS in the past year has booted up a new service called Maps for CE. The goal of Maps for CE, available to CE Advisors and other academics less than two years into their position, is to help our new colleagues get a handle on their coverage area (which often straddles multiple counties), thus building a strong foundation for their research and extension program. We do this by co-designing a custom wall map, web map, or both! To make the map useful for the researcher, reference layers are tailored to the researcher's specific program area and clientele. Some examples of maps produced from the new program below can be seen below (click on a map to see a larger version).

How it Works

To get started, the Advisor is sent a Google Form link where they select their county(s), background layers, additional points of interest, basemap, administrative boundaries and branding elements. The idea is to pick layers that are relevant to the programmatic focus - think of it like building a sandwich at a deli counter! A forestry Advisor may want to see national forest boundaries or land cover in the background, while a food systems advisor may want to include food distribution infrastructure on the map.

The menu of available layers is constantly evolving, but the current selection is shown below. If a desired layer is missing (e.g., a certain land-use layer), the order form includes an open ended question to describe the layer so we can try to find it.

Some Advisors get very excited when they see the layer menu, and request what we call a “kitchen sink” map. Maps with too many layers rarely turn out well, so we provide some guidelines about good cartography and follow-up when reviewing the drafts.

Finally, the order form asks the user to provide a title for the map, indicate whether or not they want it printed and/or a companion web map, and select an output size. We can design either, but printing is up to the Advisor.

 

Design and Review

Once the information is submitted, an IGIS map-maker will go to work and assemble a rough draft of the map in ArcGIS Pro. Once the draft is complete, we will reach back out to the Advisor to schedule a time to chat about any changes needed and final touches they'd like to see. From that point we will continue to make iterations until it is exactly what they're looking for.

Researchers requesting paper maps will get a high quality PDF that they can take to their local print center for printing (we unfortunately don't have the capacity to print maps, but can help you identify a place to print locally). Clients also receive a copy of the ArcGIS Pro project so they can continue working on it on their own.

 

Even the Best Maps are Never Finished

Just like good research and extension programs, maps must evolve to keep up with changing needs. A newer version of a layer may come out, or the program may evolve to embrace a new clientele group. In any case, change is always expected.

Fortunately, GIS is well equipped to make updates, and we provide all kinds of support to ANR academics to continue their mapping journey. These include ArcGIS licenses for all ANR employees, workshops, Tech Notes, and Office Hours. We make maps with handover in mind, whether we are working on an ArcGIS Pro project or web map, so that the researcher can run with it and make variations for different needs and purposes.

Here are a few more examples of advisor maps we have produced in the past:

 

How do I get started?

Currently, this service is available at no cost to UC ANR CE Advisors and other academics who have been in their positions for less than two years. If you fit this bill and are interested, feel free to reach out to Ben Satzman or Andy Lyons for more info.