If you happen to look up while walking through the southern portion of Cochrane's downtown and spot a drone hovering above, give a wave and a wink, and carry on. It's likely on the job for the town.

Cochrane is utilizing a drone to help gather data for their downtown parking strategy. Depending upon weather conditions, it will be in flight this Saturday and one weekday, possibly next week. The drone will be collecting the data between 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. south of the tracks between 5th Ave. and Charlesworth Ave. and Griffin Rd. It will be shooting images and video to understand the traffic patterns in what is normally one of the busiest times of the year. That information will complement data already gathered in the Historic Downtown on foot utilizing iPads.

Because of the large parameter of this part of Cochrane's business core, a drone was recommended as a better way to collect the data and in the end cuts down time and reduces costs, explains Drew Hyndman, Cochrane's senior manager of development services.

"It's an innovative use of technology and we're excited about what sort of information it can provide. Given the cost savings, we think it's the right choice," says Hyndman.

The first step of developing the parking strategy is to completing an inventory of on and off street parking as well as turnover to better understand current patterns. 

A summary of data collected likely won't be reviewed until the fall and the target for the strategy's completion is late in the year or possibly early in the New Year.

"Any number of different strategies are going to be explored. We'll certainly have some public engagement to get some input from people as well and our hope is to have a definitive strategy or series of strategies to move forward with in the future."

Development of the strategy took a giant leap forward when town councillor Tara McFadden gained support for a notice of motion in April to pursue the ongoing issue. 

"We're a growing community, a prosperous community and we trying to draw more people into our downtown core to live and work here so businesses can do well. We also need to make sure we have a parking strategy that makes that possible," said McFadden in April. "We need to make it easy for our residents to get into our downtown core and easy for people who shop here to get into our downtown core and support our local businesses."

All provincial and federal approvals are in place for use of the drone and its operators are professionals and wear identification.