How drone data shortens timelines for insurance payouts

"Both companies shared the same goal: helping communities recover faster through better data," Stough said. "Historically, coordinating aerial damage assessments has involved numerous manual steps – from identifying remote drone pilots and communicating mission requirements to collecting imagery, transferring files and delivering data for processing."

FlyGuys mobilized its network within days of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, a Category 5 storm, that made landfall on Saipan and Tinian in Northern Mariana Islands in mid-April. FlyGuys captured around one terabyte of aerial imagery for TerraFort. Ten days after landfall the companies completed a damage assessment covering 4,135 residential structures. The tally: 991 destroyed, 2,267 with major damage, 739 with minor damage, and 138 affected. The data was shared with the American Red Cross and local government agencies. The Red Cross used it for supplemental needs like assistance grants. Local officials used it to support infrastructure planning and FEMA disaster-declaration efforts.

FlyGuys manages operational logistics, communications and mission support. The TerraFort platform monitors weather systems and scores them based on their likelihood of impacting communities and infrastructure. Open-source intelligence confirms early impacts and automatically generates areas of interest. When a customer requests aerial imagery through the TerraFort platform, FlyGuys receives the mission details and identifies qualified FAA-certified remote drone pilots. Once imagery is collected it is directed back to the TerraFort platform.

"Using property intelligence and remote sensing for claims adjustment has been common in the insurance space for many years at this point. TerraFort and FlyGuys are bringing these cutting edge capabilities to the public sector for the first time, enabling community resilience through rapid recovery," said Grady Joseph, CEO of TerraFort.