User Group for Drone Mappers

[Sunburned_Surveyor]

I'm going to start a little user group for surveyors that are using or learning to use drones. I thought we could share tips, best practices, and standard workflows.

Send an e-mail to lblake@odellengineering.com to let me know if you are interested in joining. I'll send an e-mail out once I have something online.

Landon

[land butcher]

As far as I know it isn't legal to fly a drone for commercial purposes in the USA. Leica/Tremble, whatever they are called these days, is applying for a license that will allow them to then sublicense others, for a substantial fee I am sure.
The big boys don't want the little boys playing without getting a piece of the pie before the pie is even made.

[bthompson.pls]

Landon,

Please count me in on this discussion. I will follow up with an email.

Butcher,

While not legal to fly for commercial purposes (I.E. financial gain) there isnt anything "illegal" about a company operating one for non-financial gain. Its a grey area.

~Brandon

[TTaylor]

Becky Morton and two of her associates of GEO Mapping Inc. gave a talk at the recent NCGPSUG meeting on drone mapping. She would be a great addition to this user group.

They have all the FAA stuff down pat and know of the specific FAA exemptions for flying drones for commercial mapping purposes.

[Brian Christensen]

Landon-

Please keep me in the loop with the user's group.

I have been dabbling with this technology for the last year and a half and in the process of petitioning the FAA for section 333 exemption. I would be happy to share what I have experienced and learned about building autonomous UAs, planning, flying, capturing imagery, processing imagery, and the petition process.

Thank you Landon!

-Brian

[bimmel]

Please include me in the group. I will be getting a personal one soon to start flying.

I believe the law has some requirements based on weight. Under a certain weight and they can be used to certain heights... blah blah blah...

The law is very grey.

[RAM]

Do not think this group would be affected or would at least be smart enough to be aware, but a big issue with drones lately is drone use in the area of a wildland fire. This is an unsafe act for the fire air ops and when a drone is sighted in the area of a fire all fire air ops shut down. This has drastic effect on the fire operation and personal safety. So please be aware and past it on. Thanks, I will bet off my soapbox.

[land butcher]

I didn't read all of this.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcne ... s-too-far/

[Brian Christensen]

Thank you for the heads up, Ram. I would hope that individuals in the field using UA's for a purpose other than recreation have taken the time to educate themselves on what it really takes to fly safely in the eyes of the FAA and state agencies who have a vested interest in the NAS, but I doubt the average enthusiast has a clue.

What really concerns me are the throngs of amateur "drone operators" hooked up with one of these COOP drone services that pair an operator to a client in need of mapping. The operator then uploads their data set to the service provider's automated processing system and POOF! a map is created; DEM's, contours, point clouds, orthomosaics, etc. I bet not a single geospatial professional is involved in the process, let alone, a land surveyor. Check out https://dronemapper.com/ or https://www.dronedeploy.com/. Not to make light of Ram's concerns regarding "IF YOU FLY, WE CAN'T", but I think the threat to the airspace will eventually be mitigated. I believe sitting by and not regulating this activity from a land surveyor's perspective will have a heavy impact on our profession.