Now is the time for a drone investment

Now is the time for a drone investment

The hype is finally dying down in the world of drones. Thank goodness. Throughout 2015 and 2016, many people dreamed and opined about how drones could bring us new shoes in 20 minutes. However we at Aerotas, and our clients, have been focusing on how to actually make drones work in the real world. And now there are 60,000 commercial pilots in the US doing real work with drones – and many of them are surveyors.

Who should process your UAV mapping data?

Who should process your UAV mapping data?

With the popularity of of UAVs in commercial applications increasing, more and more companies are regularly coming across the question of what is the best way to process drone data. There are lots of different options out there, and this article will describe the three major categories of how to process data, and the pros and cons of each one. Overall, there is no universal best answer. The best way to process data depends on the needs of each individual company.

Maintaining healthy skepticism of new drone ideas

Maintaining healthy skepticism of new drone ideas

As experts on the drone industry, we often receive requests to weigh in on new ideas in the industry. While a healthy climate of innovation still exists in the drone industry, not all new ideas are good ones. As our clients prove every day, drones have become essential basic tools for many businesses, but that does not mean that all drone-related concepts are so valuable. We were recently asked by the blockchain technology experts at Smith + Crown to review a unique new proposition they had come across, which proved to be an excellent example of hype overshadowing real-world value.

Who owns the air above your home?

Who owns the air above your home?

Who controls the airspace above your home? This question is beginning to generate a lot of attention lately. Under the current law, there is no clearly defined line to understand the answer. The courts have been kicking this concept around for decades and until recently have had relatively little need for clarity. Considering the increasing use of drones from both commercial and recreational users flying in this space, there is growing pressure to resolve this lack of clarity.  The “grey area” has yet to be defined.

How a drone survey accidentally saved us $600

Anyone that has worked in large public areas before knows that there is always a risk of theft, vandalism, or loss of equipment. It is simply an unfortunate part of the job, as it often costs more to protect the equipment than to simply replace it. This was the situation I was in at the end of a drone survey earlier this week, and it put me in a pretty awful mood. After our flights were completed, I walked the site to pick up our ground equipment only to discover that one of our $600 GPS-enabled aerial targets had vanished without a trace.

For Drone Surveying, Trust a Professional

For Drone Surveying, Trust a Professional

Aerotas client John Luckow, President at Arizona Surveying, wrote an excellent commentary on a critical and under-discussed issue: as more people are using drones to start new businesses, surveyors must emphasize the importance of being Licensed Land Surveyors.

POB Column: Define Your UAS Operations

POB Column: Define Your UAS Operations

Many surveyors purchase a drone and start using it without ever considering the importance of having clearly-defined operations -- goals, procedures that ensure those goals are accomplished with a minimum of risk or loss, and training to ensure staff are competent at following those procedures. In our most recent article in Point of Beginning, we cover the 3 operations areas that need to be optimized for a drone surveying program to be as successful as possible.