Bandwagon's Drones Thread

Oldbased said:

So according to ArcGIS Web Application
If I wanted to buy a $100 Holy Stone drone that can go half mile with GPS I not only need to register it, but gain clearance to even use it from my home, even if I just want to look around at my house right?
It appears such is the case for literally most cities with over a few thousand people in the nation.
So unless you live on the coast or out in the sticks, it appears your ability to even use such a cheap device is severely limited.

I am bummed.
Guess I'll buy 2 camping chairs instead.

The map lists areas by ceiling. My home is 0. Some parts of the city is 100, 200,400. Does that mean those parts don't need clearance? I am confused because they are still classed as E.

Being specific this is my area.
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I don't really keep up to date on the hobbyist rules, but I think you're required to get authorization to fly in controlled airspace now. Go read up about the rules on the AMA website.

Mavic mini is 249g and under the 250g weight limit where a lot of rules start to kick in.

Still.....I don't know the hobbyist rules....

If you just want to get some shots of your parent's house there is probably someone who would come out and do it for much less than the cost of a drone. On the other hand, if you tell the neighbors what you're doing, I think the chances of you getting in any trouble doing a 1-time flight to take pictures of the house are roughly zero, whether it's legal or not.

Aldarion said:

I'm trying to figure out how you could actually get busted for "illegally" flying a drone unless you did it repeatedly and blatantly, like at an airport or something. Are people out there actually calling in reports, "oh no I saw a drone!"?
And even if they did, how do they trace it to you unless they witness you retrieving it or something?

Granted, my neighbors are farther away than the range of our toy drone, so its not a practical concern for me. But I guess I'm wondering how much of a practical concern it really is for anyone.

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Most of the time the FAA is catching people because they're advertising it, like posting videos on YouTube of them flying at 2k ft and recording landing 747s. They are installing equipment at airports and sensitive sites to locate the operator though.

Remote ID is just coming on line right now. I think manufacturers are going to be required to include remoteID 18 months from now.

Tempted to get that DJI mini for 500$ and fly it. Fuck the regs.

Lenardo said:

update on my professional land surveyor proceedure
after i emailed the coordinator today asking wtf was up (nicely) with the notification i was supposed to receive (they said within 15 business days and today was day 16) the next steps, i got the go here pay the fee and you move to the NEXT step...so i login pay the 150 buck registration fee and...get to wait another 4-6 weeks to get my registration card AND in order to get the wall plaque certificate i get to pay 25 dollar for that, however, in about 5 business days my name and registration number should be in the state system..i can look myself up and get my registration number, then i can order my stamp and officially sign and stamp plans.


edit: I am now officially listed at the board of registration as a Registered Professional Land Surveyor. I ordered my wooden rubber stamp and a DWG version of said stamp today and received the dwg version of the stamp an hr or so ago...i can officially stamp plans now if i print the dwg stamp on my plans now and sign them

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Congrats! That's a big accomplishment that I don't think anyone outside of AEC really recognizes. I've been with the surveyors here for over 4 years now, so I could technically take the LSIT if I wanted.


I haven't given an update in awhile, but still chugging along at a good pace. Started using DJI Ground Station Pro more often because the stop & shoot method of mapping is really handy in the winter when it's tough to find a shutter speed that works with the speed I want to fly at. Currently at 313 non-confidential mapping projects and almost 900 flight hours.




Looking into Skydio drones again as a DJI alternative and I'm really optimistic about the direction they're heading. Looks like we'll also be required to have remote ID implemented within the next 18-30 months. I'm sure that's not going to make life any better/easier and I have my doubts that it'll actually make the skies safer.

We're (the US) is probably only 2 or 3 years away from having autonomous drones set up on job sites to fly a set schedule without a pilot present. That's my guess at least.


Still absolutely obsessed with GIS and finally seeing the level of interest I wanted at the company. We hired a few new transportation engineers that are using the shit out of me on those projects purely from a GIS perspective, and they're getting everyone else on-board really quick. We're proposing on a big ADA/Sidewalk project right now that has a GIS component, and I also found a university project that we're including in our proposal to help with the initial identification of missing ADA ramps over a 6,000 acre project. If that goes well, it'll save us about $50,000 on the project and should be the justification I need to convince the board to hire a full-time GIS manager with a lot of experience (instead of relying on a guy with 3 years of self-taught experience and a different responsibility).

We're still busy as shit over here, but the weekly manager meetings are mentioning more and more that the already approved funding on public projects is just starting to run out and conversations with clients about future projects isn't looking too great.

Aazrael said:

Put my old phone up for sale and got offered a dji spark with extra batteries and stuff. It's in the ballpark the same value, maybe a bit less but my phone is pretty scratched.

Anything to look out for when trading for it? I have only used those early $10 drones before.

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It's a cool drone, just give it a thorough look around the motors, make sure they feel normal when spinning, etc. If he can show it flying and hovering in place without looking like a top that's about to topple, you're probably good.

You're just looking for structural damage from crashes or bent motor arms, that sort of thing.

Tmac said:

The Sidewalk Labs project? I talked to them several months ago. I think at the time they were planning on establishing chain-of-custody by DNA sampling the timber they got...which is pretty dumb bc most planted pine comes from controlled seedlings that could be planted anywhere in the world, lol.

What are you guys doing for them?

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No, its called project sidewalk. Nothing super crazy, they just use Google maps and street view api to build an interface for digitizing sidewalk features into a geodatabase