IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2017 - 12

lobby the regulators for a flexible commercial use of UAVs
and the obligation of insuring UAV operations.
MARKET AND REGULATION CONSIDERATIONS
Estimates suggest sharp growth for UAV applications by
2020: 59% in the United States, 48% in the European Union
(EU), and 40% in Brazil for agriculture alone. Economics
magazines aimed at the general public, such as Fortune and
Forbes, also report growth in UAV services [38]-[40].
Regulators and decision makers from both the FAA
and the EC agree that UAVs are a technology for the future with steadily increasingly business opportunities.
On the European side, the EC estimates expenditures for
research and development alone to rise from US$5.6 billion in 2014 to US$11.6 billion by 2023 [37]. This expected
growth pushed the EC to devise a road map for the development of regulations focused on safety and privacy, while
minimizing the limitations
on the development of commercial UAV services [25]. On
the U.S. side, the FAA expects
REGULATORS AND DECISION
the use of UAVs to grow exMAKERS FROM BOTH
ponentially in the next ten
THE FAA AND THE EC
years but does not estimate a
AGREE THAT UAVS ARE
specific figure (although the
A TECHNOLOGY FOR THE
AUVSI has predicted a US$82
FUTURE WITH STEADILY
billion growth and more than
INCREASING BUSINESS
100,000 new jobs related to
OPPORTUNITIES.
UAVs by 2025 [27]). The FAA
has traditionally been more
restrictive on commercial use
of UAVs than the EC, but it
recognizes the inevitable: "Once small UAS are routinely authorized to operate in commercial markets, there will be a
surge in the commercial applications of UAS. Potential markets will include aerial photography, precision agriculture
and law enforcement" [38, p. 70]-hence, the FAA's recent
change of direction denoted by the approval of the Aviation
Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act.
Although some [41] were concerned that the FAA's slow
reaction in terms of allowing commercial use might be a
significant incentive for Japan or countries in the EU to
take the lead in this growing and profitable market, the
approval of the AIRR Act in the United States is likely
to reverse that outcome. This act allows the use of small
UAVs for commercial applications provided that two basic requirements are fulfilled: registration of the UAV (if it
weighs over 0.250 kg) and successful passing of an aeronautical knowledge test. Then, UAVs may be flown freely,
with a few conditions: flights must be at least 8 km (5 mi)
away from airports (class G airspace), within visual line
of sight, below 120 m (400 ft), and occur during daylight
hours; and flights cannot be made over people and/or
from a moving vehicle and must always yield right of way
to manned aircraft. Compared to the current regulations
in several EU countries, where a flight plan and several
12

other pieces of paperwork must be submitted to authorities several days prior to a flight for commercial purposes,
the FCC conditions greatly facilitate the boom of commercial UAVs. Furthermore, educators are not considered to
be operating UAVs for commercial purposes. Therefore,
the aeronautical knowledge test is not required, although
the flying conditions are the same as those for commercial
flights [26].
GEOSPATIAL DATA ACQUISITION
An important factor to consider is the data acquired with
UAVs. The volume of geospatial data has already reached
such proportions that it is considered big data in its own
right [8]. It is likely that the growth of UAVs will bring
further exponential growth of geospatial big data as well.
Governance and management will become a challenge, as
is already being discussed by a United Nations committee
of experts on global geospatial information management
[43]. Such growth of UAVs and geospatial big data will
demand professionals with expertise in RS, GIS, and geosciences. In other words, the market will demand a larger
geospatially enabled workforce.
It is, hence, significant to note that the "geo" disciplines
have been recognized for their potential in the past [4] and
continue to be so [3], [6], [44], [45]. Nonetheless, the number of graduates from geomatics engineering programs is
too low to fulfill market demands [44]-[47]. Furthermore, many, if not most, programs including UAVs revolve
around the manufacturing processes to enhance their capabilities [48]-i.e., electronics, robotics, optics, sensors, and
telecommunications-leaving the geospatial data aside.
Most programs and massive open online courses (MOOCs)
currently available focus on operating UAVs, a task that is
bound to disappear or, at the very least, be reduced to a
minimum in commercial endeavors (except, perhaps, in
a few fields like the photography/filmography industry or
rescue operations) due to the UAVs' increasingly autonomous flight capabilities.
SPATIAL THINKING AND UNMANNED
AERIAL VEHICLES IN EDUCATION
Spatial thinking in education at several levels has been
supported by many institutions, especially in the United
States. These institutions include the Geography Education Research Committee; the U.S. National Geography
Standards; the Next Generation Science Standards; the U.S.
Common Core State Standards; the Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics; the College, Career, and Civic
Life Framework for Inquiry in Social Studies State Standards; the NRC [2], [5]; the National Science Foundation,
which is currently funding the Spatial Intelligence Learning Center; the International Cartography Association; and
the University Consortium for Geographic Information
Science. Other important organizations involved in these
issues are geospatial software companies and teams (for example, Esri, gvSIG [49], and Quantum GIS) and the United
IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE

SEPTEMBER 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - September 2017