By Kaillin Samuels
Laurentian University’s Cameron Perdue entered his drone map project in the Red Bull Basement competition in which he has proposed a 3D map of Laurentian University to help students navigate the campus.
“Since transferring to Laurentian last year, I got lost a bunch,” Perdue said. “It’s not the easiest place to navigate.”
The campus has a total of total of 34 buildings and according to Perdue’s entry, the map will let students search any office or room number and show them the best way to get there.
The competition invites students to co-create innovative projects to enhance student life. According to their website, winners will be awarded workshops, mentorship and funding.
Perdue, a business student, also runs his own business, Incapture, where he uses drones to film videos.
“I decided it would be great to take what I enjoy doing which is filming videos, and combine that with aviation to provide filming and drone videos as a business,” he said.
“Before I [thought] about entering the Red Bull basement competition, I was thinking, ‘Can I make a 3D model of Laurentian University?’,” he said. “I thought that would be a really neat project to work on.”
“One of the big topics that [has been] coming up is photogrammetry, which is how we were able to make that 3D model of the school,” Perdue added.
Perdue explained that building the drone map consisted of a six-hour drone flight, capturing 600 photos followed by three hours of computer processing.
Perdue said a large touchscreen or tablet within the university would be used to access the 3D map of the campus.
“If you come to school for the first time on a tour, or come to an event, you would come in and you type in where you want to go, and it would show you on the 3D model,” he said. “Similar to when you walk into the mall and you see a big map, it would be that but 3D and for school.”
Perdue encourages students to get involved by voting or sharing the post.
Voting for the Red Bull Basement event will be closed Sunday, November 3rd, and the winner will be announced the following Monday.
Students can vote for Perdue and see his 60-second video showcasing his project idea here.