Drones, Fire, and Virtual Reality: 21st-Century Tools for Sustainable Development

As our global population increases, remote indigenous communities are compelled to develop to accommodate growth and responsible tourism. Technology is now available to support and promote development of remote communities in an environmentally and culturally sustainable manner. Specifically, photogrammetry and virtual reality (VR) enable effective decisions about sensitive development by empowering stakeholders with intuitive, immersive experiences of site conditions from new points of view. This session will present a recent project on the remote Fiji island of Vorovoro, executed as a joint effort between an indigenous island tribe, a university construction management program, a social enterprise promoting positive social impact, and a global AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) software corporation. The collaborative team created a feasibility study for a dam to retain fresh water on the island; developed new data workflows; and used drones, VR, and cloud-based collaboration platforms with a Forge partner.