Aerial Data Aids in the Construction of Emergency Hospitals

COVID-19 has developed into one of the most severe health catastrophes of our age, affecting nearly 2 million individuals worldwide and likely more in the coming months. To address the growing number of confirmed cases, governments have been forced to rapidly scale up their healthcare systems, even to the point of erecting temporary hospitals to assure effective treatment of COVID-19 victims.

Argentina has seen a doubling of verified COVID-19 infections during the last two weeks. Argentina's government responded by initiating the building of twelve modular hospitals to increase the capacity of the healthcare system during the COVID-19 crisis. These hospitals will add a total of 1,200 beds, including intensive care units, isolation rooms, and other important patient care equipment.

Due to the severity of the situation, these hospitals must be completed and operational as quickly as feasible. The Ministry of Public Works, which is responsible for these projects, has resorted to innovative drone technology to expedite the development of these important infrastructures.

Due to the rapid turnaround required for these facilities, drones made the most sense, as they allowed surveyors to enhance their turnaround time while also sharing highly-accurate digital maps of the region more effectively.

Confronting the Obstacle

Emergency modular hospitals have been placed throughout Argentina's four provinces, with nine in Buenos Aires and three in the North, West, and Central regions.

Each modular hospital is comprised of 1,100 m2 modules affixed on a concrete foundation. As with any other working hospital, the modules require external service facilities such as sanitary, sewage, electrical, and telecommunications connections—all of which must adhere to the ISO 9001/2015 Quality Standards and the ISO 14001/2015 Environmental Standards.

The distance between the locations and the number of stakeholders necessary to construct these hospitals posed a danger of project delays. As a consequence, the project team decided to take advantage of drone survey efficiency and contacted RC Online, a DJI Partner, for assistance in surveying and mapping construction sites.

Digital Assets Increase Productivity

Drones have been integrated into a variety of construction workflows, ranging from land surveying to project oversight. Survey experts may create digital assets such as 2D and 3D orthomosaic maps to assist in planning and tracking these projects using drone aerial imagery and processing tools such as DJI Terra.

The survey teams travelled almost 2,000 kilometres to visit building sites and collect field data. The crews used DJI's Phantom 4 Pro and Mavic 2 Pro drones to scan the 12 locations and over 10,000 square metres in only three days.

They processed the photographs for the final outcome after collecting data on-site. They processed over 6,000 pictures and created 2D and 3D maps with extensive information on the construction sites using photogrammetry software.

Digital maps have developed into a vital resource for effective planning and execution. Within hours of the drones surveying the areas, the collected data was available in a shared cloud environment to which all companies involved in the project had access. The digital assets enabled all parties involved, including the Ministry of Public Works, the Electricity Company, and the Telcom Service Provider, to obtain all required information for planning and executing these projects concurrently.

Drones' Value to the Construction Industry

Monica Rivera, the program's executive coordinator, discussed the importance of drones to this project and the construction sector in general. "There is no longer any question that drones provide value to the field of public works planning and construction."

The building business is being reshaped by drones and digital mapping tools. Efficiency and precision translate into lives saved during crises. The drones were able to contribute to this essential national initiative by generating shareable digital assets and saving surveying time.