There are good drones for mapping and there are bad drones for mapping. What do you need to know before buying a drone?
First question: What do you want to map? The type of drone and its camera are different for topographic surveys, plant classification surveys and live animal surveys. Cameras have sensors that capture different types of light. Your cellphone camera captures RGB (visible light: red, green blue). Thermal cameras also capture infrared light. Lidar is not a camera but a radar that measures distances. Cost for each goes up. RGB is the cheapest.
A primer on survey drones is here Pilot Institute.
Another excellent general reference on drone surveying, Drone Pilot Ground School.
Here are some other drones which will do great work but may not be on the Blue List
Oh and remember to get one that won’t make you cry when you crash it.
What’s a “Blue List”?
The Department of Defense figured out that buying and using Chinese-made drones (read DJI) was not good for national security. So they developed a list of drones not made in China that they feel are safer for U.S. based agencies to use without sharing high resolution aerial photos of the United States or areas where the military is operating with China. Many states and public safety departments have adopted this “Blue List”.
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