By William Tauro

The City of Somerville has hired a local company, Above Summit to take aerial photos to survey municipal buildings for excessive snow buildup using remote drone flying robots.

Many municipalities are doing the same as a safety precaution that will save time and prevent potential injury to city employees from sending workers up on the roofs to check on snow conditions.

Daniel Hadley, chief of staff to Mayor Joseph Curtatone told the Boston Globe that “They hover the drones right above the city building roofs, and then send us video that they capture as it comes in, almost on a real-time basis.”

The City of Somerville paid Above Summit $1,500 for the aerial photos.