Watch the video in this article. Surely a sign of things to come.
How exactly does this company do this, and be in compliance? The rules seem to limit this to experimental use, still not for commercial.
We had one competitor fly a parcel to determine earthworks, and when the client essentially wanted to know why we wouldn't do the same, it was an awkward conversation. Supposedly this was their stance: someone flew the site as a favor, and gave us the imagery. We did not pay for it and did not charge for it. (But there was certainly a payment for the end product.)
The path forward needs to be made clear, and easy. If the steps for approval are too burdensome, the 80 - 20 rule will apply. 80% wont do the approval, 20% will. 20% will fly without approval, 80% will follow the rules. That leaves the middle 60% in a bit of a bind.
I didn't read/watch this super close. I think this is something that is happening in Japan and other countries that appreciate the benefit of the generation of actual new wealth.
They are busy every day doing flights and producing maps and volumes.
Lots of drones up there surveying.
The one I looked at was a tiny fixed wing with over 400 flights.
It is basically a nerf toy plane weight of less than a pound with the camera.
I would rather be hit by it falling out of the sky than by a kicked soccer ball, they are hand launched and I was told can be hand caught for landing, hardly a scary tool.
I would say the wingspan is shorter than one of my arms extended.
They fly a predetermined flight pattern, are up for a short time and if you need a large area done lots of battery changes are necessary.
They are limited in how much they can fly, you don't want to try doing a county wide mapping project with them but a small mine is perfect for one.
They will call the nearest airport when they fly, they seem very unconcerned about all the political hand wringing.
My brother in law is the sales manager for Leica's UAV division for North America. He markets the high end model UAV/Drone. Much more than a flying nerf ball with a camera, haha.
He had a project to determine earthwork quantities with the UAV and them compare the results against standard modeling. His lidar information is so complete that you can make out the track's of the equipment used to move the dirt. I can't help but believe that his quantities will be more accurate.
Of course with this comes problems, like in excess of 90 hours for the computer to crunch the data.
He also did a project that you might have read about in American Surveyor. It was in Costa Rica and was for the reconstruction of a jetty.
Dtp
