The three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) hovering over Mysore palace and K.R. Circle on Saturday managed to provide a bird’s eye view of the famous Jamboo Savari.
The drones, fitted with high definition still cameras and video cameras besides Global Positioning System (GPS), flew to a height of 1,000 feet and captured stunning and rare pictures of the crowd, the procession and the terrain.
The UAVs flown by Visoft Media, a private agency roped in by the Mysore city police to keep a vigil over the crowds, also sent live video feeds to the CCTV control room. “Our live video feeds and photographs were shared with the media,” Vinay Kumar, proprietor of Visoft Media, said.
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The battery-operated and remote-controlled drones flew for about 30 minutes before returning to the place from where they had taken off. The drones would set off again after the batteries were recharged.
Noted photographer Ramesh Sarkar, who also shot aerial photographs from his UAV, said the photographs were taken from a height of 750 feet. “The remote control also has options to time the clicking of the photographs,” he said.
Mr. Sarkar said he normally deploys the drone for special occasions like the Dasara procession, besides private events like wedding receptions. The drone costs around Rs. 4 lakh.
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Mr. Kumar said plans were afoot to start an aerial photography training institute in Mysore to help professional photographers and civil engineers. “Aerial photography will help civil engineers to take measurements of a geographic terrain,” he said. Though such photographs can be taken from Google, they would not be up-to-date, he said. Government agencies can also make use of aerial photography for official work like planning ring roads and irrigation projects, he said.