Don't know if anybody else read this article. But this is interesting. Gatewing is very cool and I wish it were as of now legal. But here is the article.
Kind of interesting that from the press release it looks like it's going to be managed and marketed by the survey business group rather than the geospatial group (with the rest of the aerial mapping and photogrammetric products)
That was interesting. I have watched the videos on Gatewing. Really cool application on a scale that would make it feasible for a lot of surveying firms.
i hope they add a landing gear
I believe the FAA has recently opened up the skies to UAV's...stay tuned.
i can just see some of the good ol boys we run into gunning for that 'ufo' like these guys
one of the biggest clients will be municipalities purchasing these units to monitor zoning and police to monitor crowds and to replace helicopters.
it would probably be better if the guy did not call it a drone until those are legalized.
as far as the comment on zoning - what will they do? overlay some images onto a rubbersheeted assessors' and call a homeowner because his house is over the line?
There's a lot counties can do with drones for zoning/permitting, especially by comparing photos years over year. They can see if unpermitted structures have been built, or waterways illegally filled or polluted, or if fences have been moved on or near government/public land, etc.
These are things being done be my county on a 2 or 3 year basis.
zoning infractions
we have the same, the endangered species program runs the same. the state gis flies the whole state and the staff reviews the images looking for the projects that were not permitted. the gateway is cool, but it's range is too small for this application.
i believe it could photo 1 square kilometer on one charge (it could be more or less, but I recall it being a project specific application, not county wide or state wide).
nevertheless, it is a cool item and i'd love to have one. i still wish they would add a landing gear, but i would setup a big catcher's mitt at the launch site to catch the sucker as it crash lands.
zoning infractions
The Gatewing X100 can fly more than 1sq km. It depends on the altitude you are flying and the final resolution of your ortho / dem result.