In the Scan

An 84.1-meter Taiwania fir hidden in Taiwan’s rugged Da’an River valley is now recognized as the tallest known tree in East Asia. Finding it took more than a decade of airborne lidar surveys, citizen-science review, and ground verification. The project also revealed an important challenge for automated forest mapping: in steep terrain, dramatic elevation changes […]

Reality capture has traditionally been too expensive and complex for many small firms to adopt directly, but that is beginning to change. Nick Seres of DronePoint and Professional Drafting Service works primarily with architects, engineers, and other AEC firms—often businesses with only a few employees—that lack the staff, capital, or time to build their own […]

Pipeline survey work carries a burden that goes well beyond measurement. In a region where gathering systems expand continuously and asset histories stretch back decades, the value of survey lies in the confidence it creates: confidence in where infrastructure was planned, where it was actually installed, and how those records will hold up years later. […]

GLENVIEW, Ill. — Women and Drones will bring five authors to its booth at Commercial UAV Expo next month for a rolling, three-day book signing aimed at the people side of uncrewed aviation. The signings run September 1–3, 2026 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, with each author taking dedicated time at Booth #340 to […]

River corridors are among the most challenging environments to survey because no single technology can capture every feature above and below the waterline. This project demonstrates how integrating airborne lidar, mobile mapping, UAV lidar, and multibeam bathymetry can produce a seamless digital terrain model for engineering, navigation, flood analysis, and long-term river manag...