Just like the invention of the automobile had a big impact on buggy whip makers, drones are already having a big impact on a number of occupations.
Actually that's not what I was saying at all but ok. I know drone pilots that had a lock on aerial photography business before the DJI revolution. They built their own drones and did a great job. It was a niche market for them, there was very little competition. Then DJI came in and changed that. Now any one can be doing what they used to do without as much effort. the specialized guys will always have an advantage because they will be able to do things better. But drone base will hire anyone with a phantom that can do the work. You can litterally sign up on the internet, pass a basic course and fly with them. drone photography is no longer out if reach to the average person. It's not expensive or rare.
I think this is the point of the article. There are so many bad map makers out there (from the entry level Phantom user to the $50k fixed wing user) that the market is getting swamped by bad data. If a client gets a taste of the bad data, it's going to make them second guess the technology as a whole and they're not likely to hire someone, no matter what their credentials say. You're absolutely right though, DJI and other hardware manufacturers are making the data collection portion easy. The hard part is, and always has been, making meaningful products out of the easy to acquire imagery. Not a single day goes by on this forum (or any other drone forum) where someone can't get their "push-button map" to come out in the right place, scale correctly, be in the right coordinate system, not dive off at an angle, etc. This isn't always easy, and it's not always straight-forward. I hope that there is more regulation because I don't want to see this amazing technology get a bad reputation because of amateur surveyors, photogrammetrists, and cartographers.
Actually, most US states have rules against the average layperson creating topographic maps, orthomosaics, providing georeferenced imagery, etc. The reason for this is because the average layperson isn't a licensed surveyor or engineer and providing bad data can have real life consequences. How many of these "pop-ups" are carrying errors and omission or liability insurance if their map is off? Who's going to foot the bill when someone uses that data to plan a subdivision and they use the wrong coordinate system? If you think this can't happen, then a quick search for surveyor lawsuits might change your mind. The farther into cadastral and design mapping territory that a UAV operator ventures, the more important it is to understand the product being produced, and I don't have a lot of confidence in those that don't know the difference between a checkpoint and a GCP, or those using a cloud-based product to deliver to their client. This isn't driving, this is survey-grade mapping.
I agree that drone pilots just can't go take some arial shots and say it's a map. But there is some data that could be used for specific clients, data pertinent to the project and not sold as "a map". The rules and laws are already present for this type of work and by making more drone rules will not prevent this from occuring. I agree to laws for surveying but because some will use drones I don't believe in adding more regulations to drones will help. The rules and regs are for surveyors to follow. It's only that when something happens and the person screwing up owns a drone some think new drone rugulation have to be made. Drones don't make maps they just fly.
