Join Cara and Bobbi as they take an aerial view of the zoo to talk about drones.
Featured Guide: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Systems
This LibGuide comes to you from our very own Bobbi deMontigny of the Montana Department of Transportation Library and Renee McHenry (retired) of the Missouri Department of Transportation Library
The platform for this guide is provided through the National Transportation Library
Drones are also referred to as unmanned aerial systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System), RPAV (Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicle) or remote control (RC) model aircraft. (We put the ACK! in acronyms!)
Guide Encounter:
A guided tour full of drone and bird puns might not be the best part of your whole day but we sure hope it is up there! Let’s get this off the ground. The last thing Bobbi and Cara want is for this to be unpheasant or hawkward! Stay in your comfort drone while you learn more. When it comes to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Systems you will want to know the rules. Winging it is not usually recommended.
The first page shares a little introductory tern-inology, mentions the authors, and lists the latest updates to the guide. This is kept up to date because drones are a very hot topic. It seems like every day there are new and innovative ways to use them. They are not only used professionally. Hobbyists also use them recreationally. As they rise in popularity, drones are practically flying off the shelves.
On the State Surveys and Domestic Scans tab, you will notice that in 2018 everyone was raven about these little aircrafts! This page contains surveys from TRB, AASHTO and state agencies. You can even find international surveys near the bottom of the page.
Under the Projects Pilots and News tab there is a growing collection of linked projects broken down by state. If your state is doing anything with drones and you do not see your projects listed here, no harm no fowl! Just contact the author at bodemontigny@mt.gov. No one will grouse about making updates. In fact, we have it on good authority that the guide owner would be as happy as a lark. More information from other state projects will really help this guide take off!
Under the Policies tab you will find help to make sure your agency is not doing anything illeagle when operating your drones. On the top right you will find legislation. Below that you will see resources from the FAA. If you are trying to craft an impeckable policy for your agency, please take a gander at the policy documentation section on the left for examples from other agencies
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The Contractors tab offers a list of drone companies and under that is a collection of training and information from many professional drone services, and you can’t help fowling in love with The Research Feed tab. This section imports a real time feed of the latest research on UAV systems as they are updated in TRB’s Transportation Integrated Database (TRID).
The Forums tab links to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Listserv hosted by the Montana DOT. If you would like to subscribe to the listserv, simply flock to the link and sign up right there on the website. You don’t want to have egrets about signing up, so make sure you read the rules about solicitations (the rules are basically don’t post advertisements or solicitations) before you start posting.
Under Related Guides you will see a list of other places you can visit for information. NASA has information about UAVs and there is also another LibGuide linked to this one specifically about the effects of UAVs on drivers. Much like the Related Guides section the final tab, Research Databases links to many other places to help you soar to the top of your class on UAV topics.
If you work with drones please consider bookmarking this guide, we hate to think of it as out of flight - out of mind.
Finally, we are aware that a guide about drones is begging for bee puns. We decided that too much of a good thing might really sting. If you are looking for something of that stripe, please see our post about knowledge management from August!
About the Authors:
Cara Marcus is the resource center manager of National RTAP
Bobbi deMontigny is the librarian at the Montana Department of Transportation
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