The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) has been attracting much attention among geomatics and geospatial professionals recently. The modern UAS although small in size, is big on the amount of data it can collect as well as the amount of ground it can cover in a very short period of time. This technology appears to be poised to make a significant impact on the future of data collection. The typical UAS consists of an autonomous aircraft with a highly advanced navigation system and a high quality digital camera. The systems are often used in situations where a more traditional form of data collection is either impractical or impossible due factors such as project size, high risk environments, accessibility issues etc. The system will rapidly capture digital images of an area of interest which are subsequently post processed along with flight log files to produce a surprisingly high quality orthomosaic and digital elevation model (DEM). Image resolution and model density are controlled by flight altitude and image overlap, however georeferencing of data can be greatly enhanced through the use of survey quality ground control targets placed pre-flight. These targets will be identified by the user in the image processing software post-flight and will serve to calibrate the orthomosaic and the resulting DEM. Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation (MIT) have acquired a UAS and intend to employ this exciting new technology for a number of data collection applications. The following paper represents some background on our investigation into this technology from product research to product acquisition in our ongoing efforts toward the development of a “BETTER, FASTER, SAFER” and more cost effective method of data collection.