What Google Maps has done for drivers on the streets, Hivemapper hopes to do as well for drone operators in the skies.
There's going to be a lot more of them too as drones become cheaper to buy and easier to fly. In fact, when TV shows like South Park create an episode about drones, that's when we know drones have finally become mainstream.
The government, having realized the potential risks in public safety and privacy, is going to require all drone users to register their devices with the Federal Aviation Adminsitration. So, if someone flies their drone over the White House, for example, they'll know who owns it. That shouldn't be a problem, however, for drones flying with Hivemapper's software.
The app, available right now for download on Android devices (with an iOS version coming soon for iPhone users), is essentially a Google Maps counterpart for flying drones. Unlike driving a car where we have a full view of our surroundings, flying a drone is like driving around with only the windshield available — we can only look in one direction at a time.
Hivemapper is changing that by mapping the airspace surrounding buildings, bridges, antennas, and other natural and man-made structures.
"When you fly your drone will know exactly how many feet it is from a building or bridge, how far away it from an amazing place of interest, and the height it needs to fly at to clear the antenna structure," the team says on their site. Should a drone operator approach a nearby structure or a no-fly zone — there are 16,000 of them so far recognized by the app — Hivemapper wil display a visual 'obstruction alert.'"
So far, the small team behind the app has pinpointed the boundaries and heights of over 20 million buildings and 15 million places of interest in the United States. The safest and funnest place to fly a drone guided by Hivemapper is in San Francisco. There, the app boasts 200 launch points and 6,000 community contributed waypoint photos. Other cities covered by Hivemapper include most major U.S. areas like Chicago, Tampa Bay, and smaller towns like Des Moines.
