Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Spatial Thinking: Boarding Education With Geotechnology And Drones

The recent boom in the number and importance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as drones, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPASs), has placed the geosciences and remote sensing (RS) community in a privileged position. But the increasing market demand for a geoenabled workforce contrasts markedly with the number of college-level students enrolling in the related disciplines. This article focuses on current and future opportunities for incorporating UAVs, geosciences, and RS as part of education programs to engage incoming students (and society more broadly) in this set of emerging technologies. Specifically, we will review the current status of geosciences and RS education involving UAVs, including a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) matrix and a vision toward the future. In short, it is essential that we systematize, disseminate, and universalize topics related to geosciences and RS education in terms of UAVs because the fields are growing exponentially, and the trend is expected to continue.