A subsidiary of Japanese drone provider Terra Drone is helping keep schools safe in the Kyrgyz Republic (aka Kyrgyzstan).

The World Bank recently commissioned KazUAV to conduct drone inspections over older school buildings across the capital city of Bishek. So far, drones have mapped 12 schools in the nation’s capital and largest city.

The pilot project, financed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, will generate a detailed database of geographic coordinates, aerial imagery, ortho-photomaps and 3D models to identify potential structural issues.

“By inspecting the surrounding area of the schools, KazUAV was also able to determine the ease of access for emergency transport services as well as the presence or absence of obstructions like fences and wetlands,” a Terra Drone spokesperson said.

Drone captured an average of 1,200 data points at each facility, allowing KazUAV to deliver accurate 3D models of the school buildings and ortho-photomaps with an impressive spatial resolution of 1-1.5 cm/pixel.

“Collection of accurate and comparable data with drones for construction of photomaps, 3D modeling, and real-time monitoring, play an important role in monitoring and analyzing the current state of sites and territories, as well as the operational situation in any given area,” KazUAV Director Dmitriy Ivanov said.

“Given the multifaceted capabilities of modern UAVs, as well as the successful experience of their operations for several years by the KazUAV team in different climatic zones and under different weather conditions, I’m positive that their use can be highly-effective for the World Bank for solving a wide range of tasks.”

The news marks another step forward for the Japanese parent company after flying high in 2019.

Last year, Terra Drone:

• Announced an agreement to provide drone services to the UK’s national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey. The contract includes services from orthomosaics to digital terrain models (DTM) and digital surface models. Terra Drone Europe plans to survey more than 500 locations using fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones.
• Demonstrated an unmanned traffic management (UTM) system developed jointly with drone traffic management firm Unifly.
• Established Terra Drone Angola after receiving multiple contracts from major oil and gas companies in West Africa.