Drone nieuws: DJI Mavic 3 Geruchten. Court ruling in MI. FAA Symposium is back. Drone vs Surveyors.

This is the week of march 22nd. 2021. This week i got four topics actually five topics. This is a very busy week, lots of news, and the first thing is something that people have been waiting for for a long long time, which is the mavic 3 Geruchten. Now we don’t have a release date just yet, but we’re going to be talking to haya in just a minute from drone excel and uh and and we’ll go over everything that he found out and uh well you’ll see interesting. The next thing is, i want to talk about a troubling court ruling that goes against some pilot drone activity that happened and – and i want to cover this – this is something that we need to keep an eye on, because this could be trouble down the line. I will talk about the faa symposium, that is back there’s, going to be two episodes it’s online again like it was last year, but it actually may not be a bad thing and then the last thing is. I want to talk about a drone pilot that is going after a surveyor board in north carolina, and this is also a very interesting topic so and then lastly, we’ll talk about our drone podcast that we just released on tuesday. We get a new episode coming up. This tuesday, so stay posted let’s get started. Our first story this week is the mavic 3.. Tot slot, you know you guys have been waiting for this.

I know i’ve seen a lot of rumors going on for a long time, uh about this mavic 3. Tot slot, coming out so we have haya with us and haya from dronexcel. You know him by now, and uh he’s got some information about some rumors that came out this week about actually that came out on friday when we posted the last news update. I was like damn it. We just missed it by one day but uh hiya. Welcome on the show again tell us uh. What did you find this week? Ja? Dank u, greg yeah. We we can’t always exactly time when we receive these little bits of information. Of course i mean this one came through a chinese social media network to one of the people that we know in china and jasper the uh, my fellow dutchman, who recently joined drone excel. He was actually able to find this and the sketch that we’re, showing on our website is basically a interpretation of a photo that we’ve seen. We can’t show the photos to anybody, Helaas, but we were able to get this sketch. That basically gives us an idea of what the design of the new mavic 3 is going to be now, keep in mind that this is a prototype or even an early production model, so things are still likely to change. But if you look a a little bit closer this image, you can see that they did make some changes.

I mean just like with the dji mavic air 2, the design is more aerodynamic, they optimize the design as well. I think one of the important features now is that the battery slides in from the back, but the dji even eliminated the back flap that would otherwise secure the battery. Eigenlijk, in the same way, we’ve seen with the dji mavic mini and the mini 2.. This design is slightly different. I think it’s going to be more resemblance of the dji. What is it fbv drone where the battery just slides in from behind and it kind of clicks into place that way you save the additional weight of a battery door and also it makes the design just that much more simple. Another important thing to point out here is that the obstacle avoidance centers – you might see those in the in the drawing as well, have been moved to the front of the drone. So it seems that that whole section that’s right over the the gimbal on the camera, is now the forward facing obstacle avoidance sensors, as well as the upward facing ones. We think that the ones that protect the drone from the sides are going to be located behind the rear, arms we’re, not entirely sure on that, but that’s based on this sketch seems to be the most logical place. You can see again. The the entire design is more aerodynamic. There are air scoops for heat dissipation and it seems to be even more yeah more compact than what we’re already used uh used to the camera that’s shown here is not the camera that the drone will eventually have so don’t don’t draw too much from from that Part of the sketch it’s, mostly the body that we have most of the information from now i’ve been hearing people say um and as always, there is a lot of stuff going on, but people saying a micro, four third camera or you know what are your thoughts On that, because i really don’t think they’re at that level, yet that’s the inspire level can a camera.

What do you think is the what’s? The next step i mean we have one inch sensors on the mavic 2 right now uh. What would be the next logical move for uh for dji it’s gon na it’s gon na be a slightly uh, bigger sensor than what we’ve seen in the mavic air ii, but it’s not gon na, be a one inch sensor. What we’ve heard it would be one over 1.7 inch expect the same trick that we’ve seen with the dji mavic air 2, where basically, you take multiple photos to get like a high resolution image that might be as high as 64 Megapixels. We also suspect that you’re gon na get, Natuurlijk, better low light sensitivity with a larger sensor, so this drone should be considerably better than what we’ve seen from any other dji drone. I think it will be better even than what we’ve seen from the dji phantom 4 pro version 2, even though that has still a larger sensor, Natuurlijk, but i think dji is going to step it up quite a bit 4k video 60 frames per seconds for Sure we’re not sure on the mega bits per second, but i would imagine that rate is going to be sufficiently high to get a real high quality level of video, something that people have been asking, and i don’t have the answer to that: the uh 03, the Ocusync 3.0: the compatibility of that with the smart controller.

Do you have any idea? Because you know, i i think about the technology in itself and and dji went into the ocusync design because it’s it can be changed with software pretty easily that’s the reason they went away from what we have in the inspire 2, bijvoorbeeld. So i wonder what what are your thoughts on that yeah? What i’ve? What i’ve heard about the smart controllers that the hardware inside is actually quite old, dus ik ben, not sure if it’s going to be that much further forward compatible with newer drones? Coming out i mean, i hope so, i’m not i’m, not quite sure. We haven’t heard anything of confirmative on that. I wouldn’t be surprised if that lifespan is actually quite limited on the smart controller they sold it as though, the one controller that you can use to manage an entire fleet of drones, and i think that’s that’s true and that’s the the ultimate goal of that device. IK BEN., not sure if the current one is going to be able to be forward compatible to the newer drones, let’s say as a dji mavic 3.. I think there might be a good chance that they come out with a version 2 of that smart controller that’s, going to be way more up to date way faster. They get rid of all the bugs that we had in there and come up with something more decent, dus ik ben, not quite sure i mean i’ll ask around to see what we can find out to see if we can get something more specific on this but i’m, Not sure i’m a little hesitant with the smart controller.

To be honest, yeah it’s, i mean it’s a good device. Ik heb een. I love it because i can control like you said several drones with it. If we have the ability to see this and become compatible with future drones and older drones, Weet je, vervolgens, then that would make sense uh it is buggy. There are some things in there that i don’t like uh, but overall i think it’s it’s a great idea. The concept is, is a great concept: uh, the the million dollar question, obviously on everybody’s mind is when, for this drone – and i don’t think there is any data on that. Yet right not much, i mean, of course we, the the fpv drone just came out. Now we have news that there’s going to be a dji air 2s drone coming out, so the successor of the dji mavic air 2, which only came out about a year ago. It would be amazing if we got to see a dji mavic 3 in september. Echter, rumors have indicated that we might not see that drone entirely this year, but we might have to wait until 2022.. In my mind, that seems a bit far away considering how old the phantom 4 pro version 2 is by now and as well as the dji mavic, 2 pro and zoom so i’m. Not quite sure, i think september might make a lot of sense for dji to launch a new drone right before the q4 shopping season.

Echter, we’ll have to wait and see. One thing i’ve learned with a lot of the dji product launches is that things tend to change even at the last moment, with the fpv drone was supposed to be launched earlier, we’ve seen it with the dji method, 2 pro and zoom, they were supposed to come Out in the summer of 2018, they were pushed back towards the end of the summer, so it always seems a little. I wouldn’t want to say messy, but it seems that at the last moment things might still change with dji. So we’ve been told that it’s going to be likely be 2022 Ik ben, hoping for sooner i think, we’re overdue. At this point i would uh i would be very happy to see a mavic 3 arrive to the market in september october yep. Ik ga akkoord: Ja, de mavic 2 pro is really starting to show its age in comparison to the rest of the technology out there any idea you know the we we know. Dji has great great drones with great sensors. The obstacle avoidance has always been a little bit behind compared to the to the the other uh manufacturers out there, especially the skydio, and all that was there any hints as to the added capabilities with this new drone. We haven’t really spoken about that, but i mean, if you look at the dji mavic air 2 pro that has 360 degree obstacle avoidance, so i don’t think for a mavic 3 dji would do anything less, maar 360 degrees also upwards and downwards, Natuurlijk.

So i would imagine that it’s going to be all around obstacle avoidance. The best comparison might well be the dji mavic air 2, which actually is quite capable in terms of following you and avoiding trees and bushes and the like. So i would imagine that the mavic 3 would be at least the same capacity or the same level, but then with all around obstacle avoidance and hopefully, maybe even better. I don’t think it’s going to be at skydio’s level, because skydiving has an entirely different approach with their ai software and also their predictive software. They have an entire set of 4k video cameras, basically recording and mapping out the entire environment. I haven’t seen anything from dji that really competes at that level. Echter, i was quite impressed with the dji mavic air ii and i think the mavic 3 should be at least as capable, but then with the addition of 360 degrees and up and downward obstacle avoidance. So i would yeah, i think that would be pretty uh pretty decent for sure. That makes sense anything else. We’Ve missed, not really i mean we’re trying to pin down when the dji uh air s so air 2s. That keeps tricking me up. Uh we’re wondering when that drone is gon na kind of us i mean we’ve, seen the fcc filings. Typically fcc filings come up weeks before a drone is introduced. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see that within the next three to four weeks from now, but we haven’t been able to pinpoint down an exact launch date that’s what we’re working on right now and as soon as we have information on that we’ll be sharing that, With you guys, Natuurlijk, as well yeah – and you guys know where to go, drone excel.

co is where you get all your information and uh and you’ll be hearing more of haya, with our new podcast that we’re doing together on tuesday morning so i’m going to talk About this, at the end of this episode with more information, well hiya, thanks for your time, uh we’ll be keeping an eye on all this and then hopefully have you next week again talking about what else came out. Another third drawn or fourth drawn from dji yeah. Thanks uh, thanks for having me on the show, it’s a pleasure as always and i’m looking forward to the second episode of pixel that’s uh it’s, going to be an exciting drone, show so uh looking forward to that one as well got it all right thanks! Hiya. Thank you and the second topic this week is coming from michigan, and this is something that’s a little bit troubling, and this is something that we need to keep an eye on. I don’t think it’s over just yet, but a court of appeal in michigan decided that it enrolled 2 1 that a township could not use drone photos that were captured without a warrant and they were captured with a drone, so here’s the back story. This is in long lake township. This is in michigan. They hire a drone photographer to capture photos of somebody’s backyard, because there was a lot of junk. Supposedly that was reported. They bring this to court, they go after the couple and the couple basically comes back and says these pictures cannot be admitted because they go against our fourth amendment rights, which is basically protects people from unreasonable search and seizures, so they actually lose.

They lose in the trial court. The trial court says basically these pictures can actually be used, so they go in front of an appeal court and the appeal court um two of the judges, i guess i’m, not sure who actually makes the ruling i’m. Not all that familiar with this, but basically they vote two to one and they basically said that these photos go against fourth amendment and that they actually should have had a warrant in order to get these pictures now. What’S really troubling here is the supreme court had ruled long time ago that anything that is visible from public navigable airways is basically not protected under the fourth amendment there is no expectation of privacy. So if somebody gets you from flying from an airplane and gets pictures of you in your backyard, there’s really no expectation of privacy there, and so this court is saying the opposite: ze zijn, basically going against what the supreme court is saying and one of the person that Voted in this, i guess again, like a judge, basically said that uh they weren’t so sure that this was actually applicable, so they didn’t want to rule against the township and but the other two basically said: is, Oke, dus um. This is troubling for a lot of reasons, because they also said that if it was done with an airplane, it would have been okay, but not with a drone. So where do you cut the line here? The the judge basically said that they’re worried about the intrusive nature of drones.

That was a quote from one of the judges that voted uh, 2, 1. So we’re going to keep an eye on this um, i don’t you know i’m torn in a way, because obviously privacy is a big thing. My own privacy, because i you know don’t – want somebody using drones to be spying on me or my family, Uiteraard, but uh on the same side. The uh. The fact that everything in the open is is not protected is something that the supreme court has mentioned. Dus nogmaals, we’ll see what comes out of this uh we’ll we’ll keep you posted when more information comes out, but that’s, where we are at the moment. Oke, next thing: the fa symposium, the fa symposium, is back. Last year there were two episodes and i kind of made fun of this last year. We attended, i made fun of it because they made it sound like it was a star wars episode and then it came back this year and guess what they actually called. The new episode episode three and then episode four so uh. Instead of calling it episode one and two of this year anyway, um an episode is several days it’s going to be a two day event. The first one is going to be in june 9 to june 10., so that’s technically episode, three and then the second one is going to be from september 14 to september 15th, that’s technically episode, four they’re going to be virtual last year was actually a positive surprise To see how this developed, it was actually a fairly.

How can i say this intuitive to get on and actually talk to people there were some glitches for some people, maar over het algemeen, i think it was a good experience for first. So hopefully they learned from the feedback. They got last year now i’m going to be a little critical. They didn’t learn from one of the feedback that we provided, which was this is expensive. This is expensive. The two episodes together is 375 dollar, which i think uh the f it’s, not just the f8. The fa and a uvsi are putting this together and i think they’re just ruling a lot of people out. A lot of people are starting in this industry and want to be at this level. Just don’t have 375 dollars to spend and if you want to do just one day, is 150 one just one episode is 249, so we’ll, be there we’ll, be providing you information about what we find out. I just wish that the price was a bit more affordable for especially for those businesses that are starting that need to hear all the information that goes on into these symposiums that’s, my gripe i’m, going to stick with it. Oke. The next thing i want to talk about is something really interesting, because this is something we mentioned in the course to students. When we talk about doing mapping and doing mapping is not doing surveying and nowhere on your website should it say that you’re doing surveying because well, the board of surveyors in your state can come after you and say: hey you’re, providing surveying services and you don’t have A license, and it can actually fine you.

This is going on in north carolina, the the board in north carolina and their name is the board of examiners for engineers and surveyors i’m just going to call them the board. The board has been making a lot of threatening letters to drone pilots telling them that they can’t be sharing pictures with metadata. That includes gps information which, zoals u weet, is pretty much every photos taken by a drone these days and uh. They’Re saying that this equates. Dus als je., if you’re capturing data and sharing that data with your customers and you’re stitching images together to make orthomosaic maps that’s considered surveying and this person michael jones, he get the letter, he stopped doing operation. And then he thought about it. And he said you know, this is a little bit of a bullying on the part of the board and it seems like it’s working they’re, sending a lot of these letters apparently to people not just this board boards across the country, and he decided that that wasn’t Really fair, so he’s going after them, he’s suing the board and he’s, basically saying that them preventing him from taking. These images goes against his first amendment and he’s going is working with the institute of justice and they’re, helping him put the suit together and going after the board. He’S, basically saying hey i’m capturing these images, they’re not being used to set any kind of legal boundaries. They’Re just being used for information, so i should be allowed to do this kind of information and i have to agree with this.

You know there’s got to be a line. Uiteraard, when somebody is providing survey grade data, they have to be a surveyor. I understand all that, but providing just information uh for customers that don’t need that survey great, that don’t need to spend that amount of money uh to get the information. That should be a lot so that’s just my personal opinion. Uh! Try not to give you too much of my personal opinion, but i think in a lot of cases, these boards are overreaching and it’s working because they’re threatening enough that they can get away with it. So i don’t care for bullying and to me this is a sort of bullying so there’s. There is a lot of stick actually here, there’s a lot of stake, Omdat, if the board actually wins, what can happen is that you have public safety that could be using a drone to capture 2d images or 3d images of a crash site for reconstruction. This the board could go after them and basically say hey. You need a surveyor license in order to do this, so that opens up a lot of doors as if the board actually wins this and and it’s, not something that we want to see. I think in this industry this would actually slow down the industry quite a bit. So that being said, surveyors may disagree with me on this one, but it is what it is the last piece this week is.

We have a new podcast. You may have seen it. We did the first episode posted it on tuesday uh, the the channel is called pixel drone show p i x l and we’re, going with uh haya kestelu from drone excel and kara murphy uh. We are providing you with a more in depth. Drone use than this episode this episode. Meestal, i cover several topics and i go pretty quickly. This is going to be much more in depth and you’ll get to know and get you know a bit more information about all of us and a bit more personal information. Uh this week on tuesday we’re talking to john mcbride and john has been in the industry for ever and even before. The industry was the industry and we’re talking to john, because he’s a dji retailer or reseller. Ik moet zeggen., and recently dji announced, that they’re going to start selling enterprise drones directly to the customer and we wanted to get his point of view. I’Ve seen a lot of what he said on several forums and we wanted to bring him on board. To basically talk about this and what effect this is going to have – and i think this is going to be a really interesting conversation, so hopefully we can even dive into other topics. With john, zoals ik al zei, extremely experienced in the industry and i’m sure you’ve seen him uh, he’s very recognizable, so make sure you catch on make sure you go to the channel.

This is on a separate channel. We have a separate youtube channel. This is also posted as a podcast, so if you’re driving – and you want to listen to just this and not see our faces – which is really not all that exciting quite frankly, uh then then you can also catch that on any of your podcast channels. Oke, dat is. It that’s all i have for this week as always like subscribe, leave a comment. Uh tell me what you think about this new mavic 3 Pro. Is this something i know a lot of people have been waiting for. It tell me what you think about this. Tell me what you think about this surveying thing as well uh, and maybe, if you got in trouble with surveying boards before what happened so i’d love to have someone on the show. Eigenlijk, i might reach out to michael to follow up on this, because i think this is going to be a really interesting thing. Dus, michael if you’re, watching, email me and then we’ll talk all right, that’s it so i get fly safe.