My experience is a bit dated, but in Germany construction seemed to be the most change-adverse field of work imaginable (and everything digital is already lagging behind compared to other countries). Even getting some of
the bigger companies to use Excel over paper was a huge productivity win.
So I'm not holding my breath and seeing anything fancy anytime soon :P
It seems to me more like a "fun thing to do" than anything that will be generalized.
I mean, it may well replace some existing technologies, like aerophotogrammetry and - more generally - produce via aerial survey more data, useful for designing, but it's not like in every construction project photogrammetry and/or aerial survey is actually needed or useful.
Surely there will be some niche where it may replace other surveying methods (where precision is not-so-vital) as an example I would see it as a very good approach to (large) mining and excavation works to create provisional progress reports, but I doubt its use can be extended to more that a few particular projects.
> It seems to me more like a "fun thing to do" than anything that will be generalized.
That's your lack of imagination speaking. Heck, before you posted this comment someone already posted a practical example [1].
Personally, I'd look at robots (including drones) taking over manual labour and risky labour. An example would be cleaning windows on a skyscraper, or delving in mines. But we could also look for applications in nature. How about pollination, for example? (That example also fits the manual labour definition albeit for animals.)
More probably it is more my roughly 35 years experience on building sites and construction projects speaking (as someone noted before the construction field is usually rather "conservative").
I surely would like more robots making more useful (and risky for humans) things, simply, specifically, there are not many construction site that need aerial survey at all.
The example posted you referred to is not in the construction field, but rather in the utilities maintenance and has nothing to do with the original article that is about "accurate" aerial survey via drones:
>In construction, the technology is particularly valuable for uses such as monitoring site progress and tracking material quantities.
"The craft has a tether line supplying water, which it sprays at up to 100 liters a minute (with optional de-icing coating), and another for power, meaning it can stay aloft indefinitely."
