A former co-worker of mine, who moved to Halifax to cover business issues there, has penned an intriguing idea into one of her latest articles, about unmanned drones as they move out of the military realm and into the mainstream:

Although the military and law enforcement are the most obvious users of drones, Stiles said such multi-use devices are on the brink of hitting the mainstream. Smaller drones, such as the 1.3-kilogram Aeryon Scout, could be used in climate research and weather forecasting, fire detection and management, and by news organizations to collect video and audio feeds, for example.

As an employee of a news organization myself, I could see several quick applications — traffic being the most obvious, but also quick-response to breaking news, and fantastic video/photo angles on sites that are difficult to approach, whether that’s fires or crime scenes. We had record-breaking flooding this year, and sent our photographers up into planes on a a regular basis to get a sense of the scale of the disaster — this could have enabled us to get aerial shots even more often.

And imagine what stories could be unveiled just by keeping an eye on things for a long period of time. If you sent the drone over a big box mall every few days for a whole year, you could collate those pictures to see if that massive asphalt parking lot is, perhaps, too big.

The Aeryon company website is conspicuously absent of any price details, and in the article they say it’s tough to pin down. At this point, I suspect it’s a case of “if you have to ask, it’s too expensive.” But I also know I can buy two-foot-long remote control helicopters from a table in the mall for less than $100. Slap a GoPro on that baby, and you’re half-way there.