Drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the rise and current uses of unmanned aerial systems (or drones) during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a particular focus on the civilian systems widely used to collect geospatial data. It provides a technical summary of how drones work, and describes the key ethical, regulatory, and technological issues that have arisen around drone technology in the twenty-first century. The chapter concludes by arguing that small, civilian drones have democratized the aerial view, opening the view from above up to a much broader swath of humanity.