Senior Manager of Business Systems

The Reality Capture Playbook for conservation: what's inside and why DroneDeploy built it. March 18, 2026 Summarize this post Quick summary. Developed with The Nature Conservancy, the Reality Capture Playbook: Conservation Edition gives teams eight practical drone and 360 camera workflows to document ecological change at scale. Conservation teams have always worked with too little data and too little time. Field surveys take days. Ecosystems change between visits. Grant reporting relies on a handful of photos and a lot of narrative written from memory. That gap between what teams observe in the field and what they can actually document is where impact gets lost - and where funding cases fall apart. DroneDeploy partnered with The Nature Conservancy to build the Reality Capture Playbook: Conservation Edition - a practical guide to drone and 360 camera workflows across every stage of conservation work, developed with and tested by one of the world's leading conservation organizations. Why this matters now. The core problem isn't motivation or scientific expertise. It's visibility. Most conservation organizations are managing vast landscapes with small field teams, limited budgets and no systematic way to track ecological change at scale. A single site visit produces snapshots. What conservation science needs is a continuous, verifiable record - one that holds up to scrutiny from funders, partners and land managers alike. Reality capture gives teams that record. Capture your site with a drone, 360 camera, ground robot or smartphone, and every image is automatically mapped by date and location. The result is a virtual field site your whole team can access, analyze and share - without another trip into the field. What the playbook covers. The guide walks through practical workflows across eight use cases: * Conservation planning: Document baseline site conditions with landcover maps, habitat assessments and plant health analysis to support grant proposals and adaptive management decisions. * Fire management: Use aerial ignition systems and real-time monitoring to run prescribed burns more safely, replacing high-risk manual tasks with automated drone missions. * Wildlife monitoring: Count species from aerial imagery with minimal habitat disturbance, and use AI-enabled annotation to analyze spatial landscape use at a scale manual surveys can't match. * Habitat restoration: Track percent cover, species richness and vegetation health season over season to see where restoration is working and where intervention is needed. * Biodiversity mapping: Measure above-ground biomass, run temporal analysis and ground-truth satellite data - including automated façade flights for steep terrain that would otherwise require days of manual fieldwork. * Communications and outreach: Give funders and stakeholders 360 panoramas, time-lapse comparisons and 3D models that make restoration progress concrete and defensible. * AI analysis: Automatically detect and map trees, shrubs, wetlands and other natural features using built-in models, custom-trained datasets or Magic AI for habitat delineation. * Climate mitigation: Apply aerial data already collected for other purposes to sea-level rise modeling, forest health monitoring, carbon stock accounting and urban heat mapping. Closing the historic data gap. One of the deepest structural problems in conservation is the absence of baseline data. Without a documented starting point, it's nearly impossible to measure ecological change - or demonstrate it to a funder. Reality capture solves this by creating a timestamped, georeferenced record of a site from day one. Every subsequent survey adds to that record. Teams can compare habitat conditions year over year, isolate where restoration is gaining ground and share that evidence directly with grant managers - instead of asking them to take your word for it. Jason Hanlon, Northern Great Plains Land Steward at TNC, said it best: "We are able to look at data we never had before and answer brand new questions about the world around us." The Nature Conservancy was recognized as DroneDeploy's Steward of Sustainability at the 2025 DroneDeploy Awards. Their work shaped every workflow in this playbook. Ready to manage your data from the very start? Book a quick call to see how DroneDeploy streamlines capture from construction through building ROI.

How AI is pushing industrial drone use into a new era. AI tools set to trigger rapid industry adoption of drones. Although over the past couple of decades some heavy industries have been quick to adopt the use of drones and robotics to perform tasks that are difficult to dangerous for humans to perform, the introduction of the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is expected to catapult industrial drone and robotics use to the next level. That was the message of the Energy Drone/Robotics & Industrial AI Forum held in Houston on November 12. With their ability to use and learn from existing data sets and to automate data collection systems, AI applications can streamline drone inspection routines, spot potential problems requiring maintenance and enhance worker safety. Some drone-related companies have been employing AI tools in their operations for years and are now incorporating them into the products that they offer to their customers. "We've been doing this for many years and I think what is new for us would be the AI agents that we've been introducing," Jeff Cohen, an enterprise account executive at DroneDeploy, said in his conference presentation. Earlier this year, DroneDeploy introduced Safety AI, which has already been deployed at some oil and gas-related sites. "Safety AI just takes that image of a work site, whether it's a construction site, or whether it's an oil and gas site and it'll catch safety risks automatically," Cohen said. Progress AI, another AI tool that the company introduced last July, is just what it sounds like, he said. "If you're building something, again, whether it's general construction, whether you're building something in oil and gas, we can help you track the progress of that project." Drone Deploy is currently developing a third AI-related product, Inspection AI. "We started beta testing and we actually formally announced it two weeks ago at our customer conference in Southern California," he said. "There are more and more platforms that are being integrated with AI. So, for the end-user, the customer that's out in the field, it's making their job much easier," Michael Clanahan, a UAV operator and sales and services support specialist with Frontier Precision, said on the sidelines of the conference. He said AI's ability to use data to identify objects makes it the ideal tool to use for drone inspections of industrial facilities. "It's using their software in order to do inspections," he said. Such inspections can often take the place of sending a human in to a potentially dangerous situation to do a job. "So that in the end they're saving money, they're saving time, and they're also saving manpower," he said. Some industries slow to adopt AI tools. However, as a result of a number of factors, some industry segments, such as the upstream segment of the oil and gas business, have been slower than others to embrace the use of AI-assisted drones and robotics in their operations, speakers said. "The petrochemical sector and even oil and gas are kind of behind on implementing a lot of that technology," Marty Robinson, chief technology officer and cofounder of Mars Applied Technology, said on the sidelines of the conference. "Mostly it's a lot of barriers to cross in order for AI or even a simple machine-vision or any kind of algorithm like that to really work." He said AI tools require large data sets to draw upon in order to work properly, and although oil and gas companies have large sets of data - which they'd collected electronically over a period of years - that data is often stored, or siloed, in many different places. While AI solutions providers can deal with the data silo problem, oftentimes large corporations are reluctant to turn their vast stores of data over to a third-party contractor. "There's a lot of resistance on picking a lot of these small startup software solutions companies," Robinson said. "They'd rather not develop in that space unless they're doing some stuff internally. We're one step behind implementing AI because we need to clean up all the data and organize all the data first." Another impediment that seems to be slowing the oil and gas industry's adoption of AI-assisted drone inspections and testing is the lack of trust on the part of the oil companies. "Previously a lot of this technology was very complicated to operate," Robinson said. The drone inspection providers tended to enlist technicians that were experienced with the drone operations and AI technology, but not necessarily with the highly specialized area of equipment inspection. "And so, I think the next key is you need to get the operators of these robotic platforms to get the certifications so that they become inspectors," he said. "I think building their skillset is what's going to be important," he said. "That trust would get developed, automatically." The upstream oil and gas industry's reluctance to embrace AI-assisted robotics tools is somewhat ironic in that the industry segment, especially in the offshore arena, was among the pioneers for developing much of today's robotics industry. "Where we saw robotics first is where they had no choice," Robinson said. "In deep water, in nuclear reactors, that's where all most of our robotic platforms started because they didn't have an option. They had to use robotics there." He said he expects that the deepwater exploration-and-production segment of the oil industry would once again become a leader in the adoption of new technology, such as AI-enhanced drones and robotics. "A lot of stuff's going to get accelerated for offshore because that's where the bigger [return on investment] is," he said. "Then it can trickle down to the onshore." Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they're contributing to its society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

John Sisk & Son partners with DroneDeploy to accelerate digital construction through aerial reality capture. Sisk's enterprise-scale aerial drone progress mapping streamlines project inspections, improves stakeholder coordination and reduces risk across Europe's most complex construction projects. Sisk, Ireland's leading construction and engineering company, active across the UK and Europe, has partnered with DroneDeploy, the leading reality capture platform used on over 3 million sites worldwide, to enhance project delivery across its infrastructure and building portfolio. By adopting DroneDeploy's reality capture platform, Sisk is enabling faster inspections, higher data accuracy and real-time visibility across 20+ projects in Ireland and the UK. Sisk's geospatial engineering program has scaled rapidly, from initial pilot projects to a multi-year enterprise agreement covering capture with aerial drones and 360 cameras. The DroneDeploy platform is now used across flagship developments including Dublin's Glass Bottle project and the Kex Gill road realignment scheme in Yorkshire, empowering teams to capture, analyze and share high-resolution site data for progress tracking, design verification and stakeholder communication. From automated earthworks analysis to aerial progress tracker and logistics planning, Sisk's use of DroneDeploy has improved project safety and coordination while reducing costs associated with manual surveys and site visits. Unified visual data enables Sisk to align subcontractors, design teams and owners around a single source of truth. "At Sisk, we see digital project delivery as a cornerstone of modern construction. DroneDeploy allows us to capture and interpret site data with a level of speed and accuracy that simply wasn't possible before. This isn't just about flying drones, it's about transforming how we plan, collaborate and deliver projects. By embedding aerial reality capture into our daily operations, for traffic management, lifting operations, logistics and ground work analysis we're not only improving efficiency and safety, but also reshaping how complex infrastructure and building projects are delivered across Ireland, The UK and Europe," said Cillian Kelly, Head of Digital Project Delivery at Sisk. "The impact has been transformational," said Kieran Crowley, Project Director at Sisk. "DroneDeploy gives us a real-time visual record of work in place - across phases, teams and sites. Whether it's a road project in the UK or a life sciences campus in Ireland, we now have one platform to validate progress and collaborate effectively." "This partnership is a key pillar of our broader digital construction strategy," said Sarah-Jane Pisciotti, Innovation & Design Director at Sisk. "Reality capture is no longer experimental, it's an essential part of the way we drive value for our clients. By standardising DroneDeploy across our business, we're equipping our teams with the tools to work smarter, collaborate in real time and make faster decisions driven by accurate data. It gives us the confidence to take on more complex projects, knowing we have the visibility and control to deliver them with precision." "We are proud to support Sisk's digital transformation and be part of their journey," said Michael Bernatz, Territory Director, EMEA at DroneDeploy. "Their teams aren't just adopting reality capture - they're operationalizing it deliberately across some of the most complex, high-value projects in Europe. From day one, Sisk understood the power of a unified platform to improve communication, reduce risk and move faster without sacrificing quality. What sets them apart is how deeply they've integrated DroneDeploy into their workflows, from site logistics and stakeholder reporting to AI-driven progress analysis." About John Sisk & Son Ltd: Founded in 1859, Sisk is a family-owned international construction and engineering business with operations across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Sisk delivers large-scale, complex projects across sectors including data centers, infrastructure, healthcare, life sciences, and commercial real estate. About DroneDeploy: DroneDeploy powers field teams with robotics and AI. As the only reality capture platform that combines robotic automation, AI agents and a truly unified system, DroneDeploy allows critical industries to operate with speed and confidence. From construction and energy to agriculture, the world's largest companies use DroneDeploy to simplify field operations, improve safety and make smarter decisions, faster. By combining aerial drones, 360 and fixed cameras, ground robots and proprietary AI, DroneDeploy is bringing the power of automation and visual intelligence to all stakeholders, from the field to the boardroom. To learn more, visit www.dronedeploy.com, join the conversation on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and X, and check out DroneDeploy Insider to discover use cases, watch virtual events, download playbooks and get to know its team through its content. Media contact: Escalate PR for DroneDeploy [email protected]