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GEOG 270Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Knowledge Requirements

Units
0.50
Faculty
Environment
Subject
Geography and Environmental Management
Cross-listed
AVIA 270

Not in the current Undergraduate Calendar. Shown as it appeared in 2025–26.

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Students will gain knowledge about the requirements and constraints affecting recreational, commercial and research RPAS (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAV], Unmanned Aircraft Systems [UAS]) flights for geomatics applications. Theory and conceptual factors affecting flight, remote sensing, and spatial analysis with very-high resolution data will be discussed. Students will gain knowledge about how to navigate regulatory requirements. They will learn how to link their science and research objectives with geomatics skills to mitigate risk and obtain regulatory approval for legal RPAS flights. Assignments provide a range of experiences to students that may include: applied aspects of flight campaign approval, setup, management; flight training; and integrating imagery with geographic information systems.

Prerequisites

None listed.

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

80% liked it75% easy55% useful

From 10 ratings and 2 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Great course. You learn about remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS; UAVs; drones - whatever you want to call them). You learn to get your basic and have the opportunity to get your advanced certificate. You learn to flight plan and what the procedures are for flying an RPAS.

    May 2023 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • The course is poorly structured. The assignments usually require you to Google/ChatGPT most of the information, with most of it being regulatory nonsense. If you don't want to learn much about drones and don't want a good grade while doing it, take this course. The course had 2h+ lectures every week for content that could be covered in 30 minutes. Despite the 2 hour lectures, WHY IS NONE OF THE LECTURE CONTENT IN THE ASSIGNMENTS?
    Read the Canadian Aviation Regulations, watch some YouTube videos and do the certifications yourself. This course doesn't help you succeed in them

    Jul 2023 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

One post or comment in 1 thread mentions GEOG 270, June 2023 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2023

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar