Drone operators challenge surveyors' turf in mapping dispute – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio
RALEIGH, NC - (AP) - When Michael Jones began a side hunt with drone photos and videos for real estate agents, his clients wanted more: pictures with property lines to better understand where their fences should be.
It seemed like a good use of emerging technology meeting an obvious consumer demand, and Jones was careful to add a disclaimer: his cards weren't meant to replace the proper surveys often needed for things like mortgages, home insurance, and real estate use Applications.
But after two years of consistent business, Jones was beaten by the state of North Carolina in 2018 with an order that brought his drone to the ground. The Engineering and Surveyor Examination Board said he had been prosecuted for surveying without a license.
Endeavoring to use a technology that disrupts national surveying practices, Jones last month sued the board for violating his First Amendment rights.
"I just want the right to fly back," said Jones. "I don't feel as though I offer surveying myself, and more or less I tell people that this is not an exact mapping, just for visual purposes, and all of my customers have understood that."
Jones is one of many drone pilots who comes into conflict with regulations aimed at protecting surveyors, whose exclusive role is now suspended as it is possible to combine line drawings with images with near precision to better resolve property disputes.
According to David Benowitz, director of research at Drone Analyst and a former employee of DJI, the world's largest commercial drone manufacturer, Jones' lawsuit is the cutting edge of this impending disruption. “This has been rumored and discussed for years. Drones really changed the game of surveying. "
The challenge goes both ways: surveyors need Federal Aviation Administration approval to fly drones professionally, and drone operators would have to pass state license exams to complete legal surveys. Neither side wants to take on the training and the costs.
However, Kurt Carraway, executive director of the Applied Aviation Research Center at Kansas State University, said that licensing authorities should do more to partner up by studying the accuracy of drone mapping and promoting the use of drones, especially in places where a surveyor cannot be sure do the job.
"I would think that with the continued development of technology and positional accuracy, drone data can likely be collected in a way that meets these survey standards," Carraway said.
A final notice Jones received from the Board of Directors in 2019 ordered him not to deal with "mapping, surveying and photogrammetry, reporting accuracy, providing location and dimensional data, and producing orthomosaic maps, quantities and topographical information."
The board declined to comment on The Associated Press, but said it would file a formal response to the lawsuit.
Goldsboro-year-old Jones, 44, said he couldn't afford a lawyer and so gave up drone mapping, resulting in a loss of over $ 10,000. This January a libertarian law firm offered to represent him.
Sam Gedge, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, tries to argue that Jones has the right to freedom of expression by taking photos and videos and producing artwork for clients. He has seen similar disputes in Mississippi, Oregon, and California.
In the Mississippi case, the Virginia-based law firm reached an agreement in December that would allow Vizaline, a real estate analysis firm accused of conducting unlicensed surveys, to use public data to draw property lines on satellite photos.
"Many states have enforced their laws in ways that are under the radar," Gedge said. "You are just sending warning letters to people ... and for most of the people who receive this letter, like Michael, you will cancel it because no one wants to be the target of government enforcement proceedings."
Walter Lappert, a 35-year-old Tampa, Florida resident founded two drone manufacturers that are now working with engineers to provide mapping services, Triad Drones and Charlotte UAV. He said he lost a good chunk of a $ 300,000 government contract in the Charlotte area because surveyors protested his drones.
Lappert said he understands the board's desire to protect an industry that has been consistently undercut in recent years by unlicensed drone operators who can do a less accurate job for significantly less money. "Inexperienced people go out and take jobs and below average what the actual technology can do," he said.
He's compromised because he's sub-contracted with engineering or surveying companies, but he wants to do the job himself.
"Service work is the best for the money," said Lappert. "I can go out and earn $ 25,000 in service in one day, while it takes me three months to sell a $ 100,000 drone."
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Follow Anderson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BryanRAnderson.
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Anderson is a corps member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a not-for-profit national service program in which journalists report undercover issues to local newsrooms.
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