A random example of a useful application: realtime forest fire detection. In e.g. Sweden during the summer months people are still paid (well, compensated for their expenses) to fly around in Cessnas looking for smoke plumes.
Imagine being able to dispatch a helicopter to drown out a typical forest fire within 10 minutes of the fire starting while it's still small. That's a game changer.
> Imagine being able to dispatch a helicopter to drown out a typical forest fire within 10 minutes of the fire starting while it's still small. That's a game changer.
And not necessarily a good one. Many forest ecosystems depend on somewhat regular fires to "clean out" debris. The problem however is that "thanks" to climate change leading to drier forests, what once used to be a fire that only consumed fallen off leaves etc. while leaving the big trees unharmed now burns intense and long enough to actually damage the big trees.
Sounds like you need to wait for the big trees to still be wet enough, but the leaves dried up, and then light a fire to have it burn while you're keeping an eye on it and know it won't burn down your nice forest.
Imagine being able to dispatch a helicopter to drown out a typical forest fire within 10 minutes of the fire starting while it's still small. That's a game changer.