How Drone Technology Is Changing Real Estate

Drone technology has hit the mainstream in commercial real estate.

According to research from Business Intelligence, the real estate industry comes in second for most drone usage only behind photography. While drones are a key component of marketing and promotional campaigns, their use in commercial real estate is actually much more widespread.

A variety of stakeholders are using drone technology for everything from site mapping to inspection services and progress reports. Drones are also deployed across all sectors of commercial real estate, from retail to hospitality and even agriculture.

Here are some of the most exciting ways that commercial real estate professionals are optimizing drone technology.

Designing with a View in Mind
In most applications, drone imagery is used to examine a build and get a more precise view of the grounds, exterior, and framing from the air.

For Bruce Greenfield, principal at Orange, Calif.-based Architects Orange (AO), however, drones are a way to conduct 'view studies.'

"We will typically send a drone up to the heights of our floor plates and take images of each direction to see where the best views are, and how high we have to go up to see over certain obstructions," he explains. "This gives us a comprehensive understanding of where the views are and if certain views should be avoided, and ultimately where to place balconies, windows and premium guestrooms in hotels."

For developers and investors looking to get the most bang for their buck, the ability to experience the building's real views, just as tenants or guests would be able to see them, can impact design.

For example, there could be a stunning view to the south on the 10th floor, but it's near impossible to know that from the ground. A developer could be missing out on a prime spot for a balcony or floor-to-ceiling windows that could wow guests or tenants.

"Using drones helps us locate the best spots for sitting areas, like pools, bars, pre-function spaces, and associated windows versus solid elements like shear walls, stairs, and back-of-house spaces," Greenfield says. "While this is an intuitive process at ground level, it becomes very helpful to experience the views firsthand when trying to approximate what the views are 200 feet in the air."

Learning about Sites
Another area where drone technology can stand out is in site selection. "Drones are especially valuable in urban spaces surrounded by other buildings," says Greenfield.

For projects in densely-located areas, drones can offer much more than an aerial view – though those are certainly helpful. Technological advancements have allowed drone imagery to provide all sorts of useful data for developers and investors.

Increasingly, drones help analyze traffic flows. A retail operation going into a city block can determine site potential from the beginning by using drone data to measure foot traffic in a given period.

Drones aren't solely for big city, mixed-use projects either. They cover a broad spectrum of agricultural needs, too.

Agricultural developers and investors, farmers, and vineyard owners can get a full view of a parcel of land, determine the topography of the area, and assess the soil quality using drone technology.

Ben Green, president of Purple Ribbon Seeds, a farming company in Marshall, Ind., has been using drones in his business for the last few years to speed up the process of scouting fields of crops. "The processes might normally take us an hour to complete an 80-acre field," he explains. "But now we can find trouble areas much quicker."

The aerial technology helps uncover any unseen issues with the land. That can help investors get a complete picture and avoid any significant surprises hidden under the surface of the soil.

"This is extremely useful for both valuing land and scouting," notes Green.

Getting Better Information Quicker
Drones are also impacting commercial real state in other ways, namely speeding up processes while still providing accurate information. Both Green and Greenfield cite improved accuracy as one of the reasons why they use drones.

Developers are tapping into these benefits as well. Drone use during the mapping and inspection processes are becoming increasingly popular. Small drones can easily maneuver around and even inside buildings, quickly projecting data back to architects and supervisors for regular progress updates.

Add sensors to the mix, and drones can do even more. In commercial settings, thermal sensors attached to a drone can easily detect problems with HVAC or water systems before it's too late.

For agricultural applications, drones can have Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) sensors. These help detect crop information including plants under stress, different crop stages, and irrigation management.

These sensors, pictured above, allow Green to see quite a bit of information.

"We can determine the areas that would be first to begin pollination and reproduction using NDVI mapping," he explains. It can also highlight problem spots, including areas where water is backing up and impacting the plants.

Looking to the future
With the increased popularity of drones, their use in commercial real estate and agriculture is only expected to rise.

"We will continue to use drones because of the speed with which we can get relative information to help make decisions in production," says Green.