February 7, 2023 |
January 9, 2025
For the City of Salem, Oregon’s capital, a fleet of drones supports nearly every city department. The city’s drones-as-a-service program, launched by Salem Public Works in 2018, deploys six drones that can perform safety inspections and deliver images for digital models. Drones in Salem have become integral to construction planning, community outreach, emergency management, and more.
Drone operations are managed as part of the city’s enterprise geographic information system (GIS) suite of technology. The imagery drones collect is processed into 2D and 3D data products that can be integrated onto the city’s maps, providing high-resolution and up-to-date details.
Utility operations managers and safety inspectors, for instance, request drone imagery of critical infrastructure such as reservoirs, water towers, and bridges. Drones can easily reach areas that would be risky for staff to capture in person. That includes getting a bird’s eye view of roads susceptible to periodic landslides due to hillside creep and cracks.
“Drones are a perfect way to do that work. In fact, the first request we had after a landslide was, ‘Can you deploy the drone team right now?’ And since we had all the processes in place, we were in the air within an hour,” said Nitin Joshi, the city’s environmental and operations technology manager.
Drones proved crucial in Salem following a major ice storm in February 2021, which resulted in widespread road closures, debris removal needs, and downed powerlines.
“You could almost make a case for a drone program’s existence purely on emergency management,” said Devin Doring, technical services supervisor for Salem Public Works. “We can rapidly document conditions, and provide images for FEMA documentation,” showing how drones could speed funding for the city’s recovery.
When the city wanted to showcase unique amenities in each of its 90 parks—in just 90 days—the Public Works Department and its drones got the job done.
“It was a monumental undertaking,” said Doring. The project was part of the city’s push to draw more attention and visitors to city playgrounds, picnic areas, and ball fields. The park inventory campaign was a success, showcasing both the value of the city’s parks and the benefits of drone-captured imagery for residents and city staff alike. Salem’s Parks and Recreation Department continues to employ drones and infrared technologies to assess turf health and determine areas that need reseeding after public events.
For Salem construction projects, drones have proven to be a cost-effective option. They provide engineers with valuable videos and images that can be used for monitoring progress, both before and after the project starts. Most recently, drones were used to capture footage of a dam for a grant proposal to fund repairs expected to cost $60 million. The data was rendered to illustrate the proposed improvements and shared as a digital story with the proposal.
The ability to show the need, rather than just explain it in words or with an architectural drawing, can be instrumental in securing funding, according to Joshi.
In the past, Salem staff relied on a once-a-year flyover of the entire city to capture aerial imagery. Now, with the drone program, employees can request the aerial data they need more quickly, and for specific projects.
It just takes a simple survey form to make flight requests. City employees can also access a digital archive to view a map of past drone flights, a timeline of when requests were made, and data on the drone program’s workload. Details include completed operations, new requests, processing times, and projects that are planned but delayed.
The customized site also allows Salem staff to access a catalog of all imagery captured by drones using ArcGIS Flight. Users can filter through high-resolution images called orthomosaics based on mission date, title, or metadata tags, and use the data as needed.
Salem Public Works staff were inspired by a presentation at the Northwest GIS User Group Conference. Seeing how drones fit into another city’s workflows encouraged Doring to work with Joshi to create a drone program of their own.
“We quickly realized all the different use cases for drones, but securing funding for them was another matter entirely,” Joshi said. So was making a case for the program to be overseen by Public Works.
The case was made in the context of the daily tasks Salem Public Works staff already do—planning, constructing, and maintaining the city’s infrastructure.
“In my mind, it made perfect sense,” Joshi said. “The work we do deals with geographical information. Drones would be a natural asset to add to our program.”
Over the following year, Joshi and Doring sought advice from drone program leaders in other cities. They established critical relationships with their local airport authority to ensure compliance with all regulations, and meticulously prepared the documentation, legal requirements, manuals, and processes required for a successful program launch. It was also crucial that they get support from management, and that the city’s risk and legal departments were on board. Those conversations can take time, Doring warned.
“It’s not just, ‘Let’s go buy a drone at the store and try flying it, and then we’ll develop the program,” Joshi added.
For municipalities looking to follow in Salem’s footsteps, Joshi advises patience and a focus on making sure that the program’s value is directly tied to existing work processes. The team behind the Salem drone program is also responsible for regular GIS-related utility management duties. Balancing these tasks has been key to the initiative’s success.
“Our goal is to provide support for any projects that the city might have or to share interesting things from our department,” Joshi said.
According to both Doring and Joshi, the program has more than justified its investment. Looking forward, they are eager to explore the integration of lidar sensors to further enhance their 3D GIS capabilities.
Learn how GIS professionals utilize drones to add aerial context to operations.
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