California Surveyors Forums

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.