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I fly my quadcopter in the UK. It would be nice to have an app that told me about the airspace I was in based on my current position. However, right now I am n

by kawsper 11y ago

I fly my quadcopter in the UK. It would be nice to have an app that told me about the airspace I was in based on my current position. However, right now I am not flying higher than 10 meters from the ground.

6stringmerc 11y ago
Round up a team and put it in the ApplyHN sector - that could be a really useful, pay-for-app & updates type service. Definitely has value. The target market should be able to see the cost-benefit I presume. Good thinking!
- nathancahill 11y ago
  Classic HN. Jumping from someone's annoyance to "create a startup" that "definitely has value" without knowing anything about the space.
  - tremguy 11y ago
    I guess that's how most startups get started AFAIK?
    - nathancahill 11y ago
      Unfortunately yes, which is why you get founders awkwardly trying to answer questions like.. "How does your product compare to X and Y that are dominating the space right now?" when they've never heard of X or Y.
      - jtuente 11y ago
        > Classic HN. Jumping from someone's annoyance to "create a startup" that "definitely has value" without knowing anything about the space. All that without specifying whether or not you have knowledge in the space. You probably should have specified X and Y are already in the space rather than assuming that someone already has taken up space there.
        nathancahill 11y ago
        Besides the established ones mentioned in siblings, there's https://airmap.io/ https://airmap.io/ which is quite good.
      - TheSpiceIsLife 11y ago
        X and Y are dominating the space? Good, there's a proven market.
        nathancahill 11y ago
        Oh dear, it's worse than I thought.
        bbcbasic 11y ago
        Nothing can go wrong. And if it does: Pivot.
      - voltagex_ 11y ago
        I'm assuming it's not the first time people have tried to start a business without understanding the competition - I'm not sure it's startup-specific.
  - 6stringmerc 11y ago
    >Classic HN. Jumping from someone's annoyance to "create a startup" that "definitely has value" without knowing anything about the space. Haha joke's on you buddy, I grew up around aviation and know that log books and maps are what pilots must always have at all times in all situations otherwise they'll get popped by the FAA. Only recently have digital devices been allowed anywhere NEAR professional cockpits, having been slowly tested in civil aviation. Thus I concluded that an expanding sector with limited knowledge of traditional expectations - airspace 'n shit - might be marketable. Watching your comment turn grey and then to vapor is more "Classic HN" to me.
    - CraigJPerry 11y ago
      To be fair to your parent, the feature is already deployed in popular drones (both dji and 3dr). It's hard to see a market for something already built in for free (airspace restrictions) and anyone familiar with current drones would know this.
      - Karunamon 11y ago
        Perhaps, but with the recent move to classify straight up toys as "drones", those things probably aren't going to have such intelligence built in. There would be value in being able to pull up my phone and find out "Yes, there are no arbitrary restrictions on flying right here".
        CraigJPerry 11y ago
        It's already there, i have either my phone or tablet out when i use my 3DR Solo (it displays the video feed). One screen of the app which displays the video feed, is airspace restrictions on a map of the current area (although you can pan and zoom around the world in order to plan future flights too).
      - 6stringmerc 11y ago
        Considering the cost of both DJI and 3DR and the inevitable down-stream development and access, unless each and every manufacturer is mandated to include "smart" flight restrictions, then I would say the point stands. Making a useful application and product is fun to spit ball. Whizzing out some sanctimonious pontification is feeble.
- zyxley 11y ago
  It seems like there could be something of an aspirational market there for 'prosumer' drone pilots who follow the rules because it makes them feel more like professionals. Include some resources on interesting uses of drones, maybe a little marketplace for connecting camera drone pilots with marketers or landowners...
  - 6stringmerc 11y ago
    Absolutely - if anything, the excuse of "ignorance" factor would be a lot less. Reducing the risk of liability is a reasonable avenue in my opinion. Also if "drone racing" and the like start to get more popular, having advertisements for regional facilities could be mutually beneficial.
nathancahill 11y ago
https://skyvector.com/ https://skyvector.com/
mrchucklepants 11y ago
Foreflight[1] does something similar already but they are focused on traditional flight. This is an interesting idea. [1] https://www.foreflight.com/ https://www.foreflight.com/
- cpncrunch 11y ago
  Foreflight costs $99/year. There are free alternatives: - FltPlan Go app for android and ios - skyvector.com I use the FltPlan Go app when flying, and skyvector.com to look at the charts from a browser.
pj_mukh 11y ago
http://www.hoverapp.io/ http://www.hoverapp.io/ Not sure of UK coverage though.
- andygates 11y ago
  Hover used not to have any info in the UK. It now does! Sweet update. But note that no-fly zones are pretty onerous: all the best parks in $town are occluded by the huge zone for an out-of-town airport. Likewise a local beauty spot that occasionally activates for military training is marked without any timely activation data. Is it hot or not? The zone is larger than the current NOTAM, which suggests they're being completionist, which is maximum ass-covering and minimally useful. This sort of blunt zoning mostly doesn't make sense, and will likely get ignored. (in fact, if that same zoning applies to geofences, all the $town flyers own bricks) Real pilot info is semi-useful: http://notaminfo.com/ukmap http://notaminfo.com/ukmap ; the legal 400ft limit is 120m, which is an invisible speck in the sky. Useful for setting ceilings for waypoint flight, etc.
DonaldFisk 11y ago
You mean 33 feet. Height and altitudes below the transition level are in feet, not metres.

by kawsper 11y ago

6stringmerc 11y ago

Round up a team and put it in the ApplyHN sector - that could be a really useful, pay-for-app & updates type service. Definitely has value. The target market should be able to see the cost-benefit I presume. Good thinking!

nathancahill 11y ago
Classic HN. Jumping from someone's annoyance to "create a startup" that "definitely has value" without knowing anything about the space.
- tremguy 11y ago
  I guess that's how most startups get started AFAIK?
  - nathancahill 11y ago
    Unfortunately yes, which is why you get founders awkwardly trying to answer questions like.. "How does your product compare to X and Y that are dominating the space right now?" when they've never heard of X or Y.
    - jtuente 11y ago
      > Classic HN. Jumping from someone's annoyance to "create a startup" that "definitely has value" without knowing anything about the space. All that without specifying whether or not you have knowledge in the space. You probably should have specified X and Y are already in the space rather than assuming that someone already has taken up space there.
      - nathancahill 11y ago
        Besides the established ones mentioned in siblings, there's https://airmap.io/ https://airmap.io/ which is quite good.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 11y ago
      X and Y are dominating the space? Good, there's a proven market.
      - nathancahill 11y ago
        Oh dear, it's worse than I thought.
        bbcbasic 11y ago
        Nothing can go wrong. And if it does: Pivot.
    - voltagex_ 11y ago
      I'm assuming it's not the first time people have tried to start a business without understanding the competition - I'm not sure it's startup-specific.
- 6stringmerc 11y ago
  >Classic HN. Jumping from someone's annoyance to "create a startup" that "definitely has value" without knowing anything about the space. Haha joke's on you buddy, I grew up around aviation and know that log books and maps are what pilots must always have at all times in all situations otherwise they'll get popped by the FAA. Only recently have digital devices been allowed anywhere NEAR professional cockpits, having been slowly tested in civil aviation. Thus I concluded that an expanding sector with limited knowledge of traditional expectations - airspace 'n shit - might be marketable. Watching your comment turn grey and then to vapor is more "Classic HN" to me.
  - CraigJPerry 11y ago
    To be fair to your parent, the feature is already deployed in popular drones (both dji and 3dr). It's hard to see a market for something already built in for free (airspace restrictions) and anyone familiar with current drones would know this.
    - Karunamon 11y ago
      Perhaps, but with the recent move to classify straight up toys as "drones", those things probably aren't going to have such intelligence built in. There would be value in being able to pull up my phone and find out "Yes, there are no arbitrary restrictions on flying right here".
      - CraigJPerry 11y ago
        It's already there, i have either my phone or tablet out when i use my 3DR Solo (it displays the video feed). One screen of the app which displays the video feed, is airspace restrictions on a map of the current area (although you can pan and zoom around the world in order to plan future flights too).
    - 6stringmerc 11y ago
      Considering the cost of both DJI and 3DR and the inevitable down-stream development and access, unless each and every manufacturer is mandated to include "smart" flight restrictions, then I would say the point stands. Making a useful application and product is fun to spit ball. Whizzing out some sanctimonious pontification is feeble.
zyxley 11y ago
It seems like there could be something of an aspirational market there for 'prosumer' drone pilots who follow the rules because it makes them feel more like professionals. Include some resources on interesting uses of drones, maybe a little marketplace for connecting camera drone pilots with marketers or landowners...
- 6stringmerc 11y ago
  Absolutely - if anything, the excuse of "ignorance" factor would be a lot less. Reducing the risk of liability is a reasonable avenue in my opinion. Also if "drone racing" and the like start to get more popular, having advertisements for regional facilities could be mutually beneficial.

nathancahill 11y ago

https://skyvector.com/ https://skyvector.com/

mrchucklepants 11y ago

Foreflight[1] does something similar already but they are focused on traditional flight. This is an interesting idea. [1] https://www.foreflight.com/ https://www.foreflight.com/

cpncrunch 11y ago
Foreflight costs $99/year. There are free alternatives: - FltPlan Go app for android and ios - skyvector.com I use the FltPlan Go app when flying, and skyvector.com to look at the charts from a browser.

pj_mukh 11y ago

http://www.hoverapp.io/ http://www.hoverapp.io/ Not sure of UK coverage though.

andygates 11y ago
Hover used not to have any info in the UK. It now does! Sweet update. But note that no-fly zones are pretty onerous: all the best parks in $town are occluded by the huge zone for an out-of-town airport. Likewise a local beauty spot that occasionally activates for military training is marked without any timely activation data. Is it hot or not? The zone is larger than the current NOTAM, which suggests they're being completionist, which is maximum ass-covering and minimally useful. This sort of blunt zoning mostly doesn't make sense, and will likely get ignored. (in fact, if that same zoning applies to geofences, all the $town flyers own bricks) Real pilot info is semi-useful: http://notaminfo.com/ukmap http://notaminfo.com/ukmap ; the legal 400ft limit is 120m, which is an invisible speck in the sky. Useful for setting ceilings for waypoint flight, etc.

DonaldFisk 11y ago

You mean 33 feet. Height and altitudes below the transition level are in feet, not metres.