DRONE CAMP

DroneCamp is a week-long intensive workshop designed to cover a broad suite of knowledge and skills needed for mapping and data collection. DroneCamp is a collaborative effort between UC Agriculture and Natural Resources IGISUCSC CITRIS / CIDER, UC Merced, and CSU Monterey Bay. DroneCamp 2024 will be a virtual and in-person event hosted at CSU Monterey Bay on June 24–28. Applications will be launched in the Spring of 2024. For more information, visit dronecampca.org.

2024 marks the eighth anniversary of Drone Camp, which was initially launched in 2017 by the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources at UC Davis. Over the years, Drone Camp has evolved into a collaborative, intensive short course that provides comprehensive training on the use of drones for mapping and data collection. From 2017 to 2019, the four-day workshop was held on the UCB, UCSD, and UCSC/CSUMB campuses. In 2020 and 2021, the workshop was moved online due to COVID-19. In 2022 and 2023, Drone Camp was organized as a hybrid workshop at CSUMB, and Drone Camp 2024 will keep the hybrid training approach.

Drone Camp is designed for a wide range of skill levels and interests, from beginners with little to no experience in drone technology to intermediate and advanced users who want to learn more advanced data processing and analysis. Instructors from the University of California and California State University systems will provide workshops and focus on the following topics:

  • Flight Skills: Safe Launch and Landings, Basic Operations, Traversing and Avoiding Obstacles, Night Flying
  • Safety and Regulations: Safety and Regulations Overview; How to be a Good Visual Observer; Operating in Controlled Airspace
  • Hardware: Sensors, Platforms and Field Accessories
  • Data Collection: Mission Planning; High Precision Mapping
  • Data Analysis: Stitching Drone Images with Pix4D, Agisoft Metashape, ArcGIS Pro, and OpenDroneMap; Analyzing Processed Drone Data in QGIS and ArcGIS Pro
  • Advanced Analytics for Vegetation Analysis, Vegetation Analysis and Classification in ArcGIS Pro; Sharing Data and Outputs; Analysis of the Intertidal Zone

These skills are applied across a wide range of applications, including Agriculture, Land Management, Facilities Inspections, Environmental Monitoring, Forestry, Research, and Education.

If you are interested in sponsoring this event, please see this information.

Registration:

Registration is now open. Early-Bird registration is until May 1, 2024.

  • Early-bird general admission rate (non-academic, in-person): $1000
  • Early-bird academic rate (in-person): $600
  • Early-bird virtual rate: $100

In-person participants have live access to all presentations and workshops. Light refreshments, lunch daily, and the dinner social on Monday evening are also included. 

For more information, visit dronecampca.org or email us at cider@ucsc.edu