Swandiri Institute and PWYP Indonesia organized School of Drone (SoD) last September, 29 -October, 5 in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Workshop in making drone process, was followed by 23 participants, learned many things such as mechanic and simulation, using drone for training, mapping practice, and data processing.

Drone is an inclusive technology that can used for many things related to spatial aim, such as: mapping agriculture area, indigenous forest mapping, monitoring the extractive industry, monitoring the natural disaster, and early detection for healthy of plant.

Swandiri Institute has used drone for spatial mapping of Tayan Hilir District, where in Tayan Hilir there are territories that managed by Dayak Tobak indigenous people that opressed by mining concession, palm plantation, and Industrial Plantation Forest.

Ibrahim S. Kasarua, one of the participants from Southeast Sulawesi said his interest on this workshop. According to him, in Southeast Sulawesi the natural resources conflict in mining sector and palm plantation, always end with discrimination against community.

“Drone can use as tools in advocate and escort the natural resource conflict cases, to bring back the people’s right, and also ease the mapping conflict area easily, and mining and palm plantation concession,” said ibrahim.

This workshop running in one week, and enable participants understand how to operate drone well. In the first day, they learned about using drone and its application, ekectronics and mechanic of drone. In the evening, participant take take off and landing simulation on a laptop.

In the second day, participants learning to make drone. In the third day, participants go to a field to check their own drone. They make 2 kinds of drones, drone for training and drone for mapping. The drone for trainining, is skywalker type, and the drone for mapping was made from styrofoam. At the same day they also learned how to do manual launcher. This process is throw the plane into the air.

Not all of participants want to do manual launcher. Heri Tebadepu from Yayasan Peduli Konservasi Alam (PEKA) Indonesia said, “I try 2 times for manual launcher, i still failed to take off the drone. After several excercise, finally i success to fly drone.” Actually, we have not to worry the drone will fall down, because the drone for training was made by hard plastic.”

For keep the drone fall down and damage, there are 2 remote controls, 1 remote control for participant, and 1 remote control for the pilot trainer. Thus, the trainer can take over if there are something that harm the drone.

There is simulation examination for participants. “If we pass the exam, we allowed to fly the mapping drone” said Heri.
Next, the participants learned the flight plan and mission monitoring with connect between drone and laptop through software mission planner. Participants divided 3 groups, and each group process the photos captured by drone, and process it become spatial data.

Arif Munandar, researcher of Swandiri Institute, hopes with this School of Drone, drone can use as tools for open the spatial data and can ease the advocation for community in many sectors. This spatial map become accurate data which can be overlaid with another data spatial plans, mining concession, and palm concession.