The development of Drone Scene continues!

I think I had a look for this data previously but couldn’t find an API version, only the static file that Marine Scotland has used.

2 Likes

After a lot of work, five months worth of conversations and a bit of jumping through various legal hoops, we are pleased to announce that Drone Scene has today been accepted by the CAA as an official drone safety application :bowing_man:t3:

This makes us one of only three application suites to ever be accepted, and one of those is their own NATS Drone Assist!

Needless to say, we are very chuffed to be listed here:

As more and more of you are now able to start flying again please don’t forget that you can log and manage all of your planned flights with NATS directly from within Drone Scene.

Also don’t forget, if you have any feature requests for our next version we’d love to hear them!

18 Likes

:+1: :clap: :+1: :clap: :+1: :clap:

2 Likes

WELL DONE to everyone involved in the setting up and continuing development of this great resource!

And,- those of us who just enjoy going places and fluing - let’s add our favourite sites and useful descriptions to the map!

3 Likes

Please do keep adding to the map, it helps our new members out immensely!

2 Likes

Well Done Rich & Co !, many thanks from all the Members for all your hard work !.

4 Likes

What a fantastic accolade to be listed as an official CAA Drone Safety app.

Well done all involved and thank you for all your efforts :+1: :+1: :+1:

3 Likes

That’s fantastic! Well done guys! :ok_hand::+1:t4:

1 Like

Well done!

Is there an option to go to current location? Looked but can’t find (using Android launch from home screen)

1 Like

Oh, don’t forget the Google Earth style distance measure :wink: That’ll answer all the questions, is it ok to fly where I’m stood and have I walked 50 metres from the road :joy:

4 Likes

Thanks for the suggestions @Crackerjack - we’ll see what we can do :slight_smile:

1 Like

We’re currently making a few tweaks to Drone Scene and hope to have some updated features available for you all soon.

Shout now if you have any feature requests and we’ll see what we can do :blush:

2 Likes

How did I miss this announcement? Congratulations, that’s a fantastic achievement :slight_smile:

2 Likes

5 Likes

I added a flight report via the Dronescene map, this being the first time that I had put notice of an intended flight within an airfield Flight Restriction Zone.

There was no problem in adding the proposed flight although I expected a warning along the lines of “Do you have permission for this flight from the relevant ATC / ATIS ?” and then a yes/no checkbox.

Is that a feature that could or should be implemented?

1 Like

Moved your post over here … re …

Seems a sensible double-check.

@macspite there’s a couple of reasons why we don’t ask or check where your intended flight is taking place.

The first is simply because NATS don’t check on their own app either :blush:

And the second reason is that even if we did ask you, we then have no mechanism by which to report that information back to NATS.

The API which we use to post flight reports to them on your behalf has some very specific parameters and we’re not able to add extra “things” to it I’m afraid.

Understood. I might ask NATS the question see what their reply is. Although you would have to be slightly weird to publicise a flight in an FRZ if you weren’t approved by the relevant authority.

We have launched another version of Drone Scene today.

First, the boring, but all important, bug fixes:

Minor bug fixes:

  • When reporting an issue with a location, the link included in the report was still using the old format
  • Brand new GADC members would get an error if they hadn’t posted on the forums first, before adding a new location to Drone Scene
  • We now validate the date format when you are submitting a Flight Report to NATS. It needs to be entered in dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm (we now make sure it is!)

With those technicalities out of the way, here are the goodies :slight_smile:

Take a look at Drone Scene today and you’ll now find the following changes!


• When adding a new Location to the map we now ask you for details on site accessibility

— Requested by @alexmciver


• Updated the OpenGraph / OneBox icon

— Thanks @OzoneVibe for the new icon

Screen Shot 2020-08-16 at 17.50.50


• Updated the mobile device desktop “bookmark” icon

— Thanks @OzoneVibe for the new icon

Also changed the text for the shortcut to simply say Drone Scene.


• Made the various sections of the /About page clickable links

If you’ve never looked at the /About page - now is the time: Where can I fly my drone in the UK? - About Drone Scene

It contains a wealth of information about what is available in each “layer” of data that you can apply to the map.

As we add more layers, this page naturally increases in length and often we need to refer people to specific sections or areas of that page.

That is now completely doable.

For example, here’s a link directly to the information about Class D airspace:

Where can I fly my drone in the UK? - About Drone Scene

Or a similar link directly to The Crown Estate Foreshore and Estuary information on the /About page:

Where can I fly my drone in the UK? - About Drone Scene

Simple, but oh-so handy.


• Removed the KP Index button

Because it’s pointless really, right?

But just in case anyone does still actually need it, we’ve removed the button completely but the KP Index is still available.

It’s now displayed with the other Weather information:


• Copy Share Location to Clipboard

— Requested by @milkmanchris

Looking at a specific area, at a specific zoom level? We’ve had the option to Share this exact view for a while now, but we’ve made it even easier now by adding a one-click button to copy this exact location view directly to your clipboard, so you can now paste it somewhere else:


• Zoom directly to your current location

— Requested by @Crackerjack

How does it work?

Click on this new button to zoom to your current location:

Your browser will probably pop up a message saying “Drone Scene is requesting access to your device location, allow/deny”.

This is standard practice and we do not store your location. It’s used simply to zoom the map to where you are right now.

Pressing that button again will zoom you back to whichever area of the map you were looking at before you zoomed to your current location.


• Distance measuring tool

— Requested by @Crackerjack (and @JoeC we know you’ve been dying for this one too!)

Want to know if your planned take off location is X amount of distance away from the nearest building?

Want to know if you can fly to the Isle of Wight and back again?

Click this new button to turn on the measuring tool.

What happens next then depends on whether you’re using a computer with a mouse or a touch screen device.

If you’re using a device with a mouse, simply click once on your starting point. A red line will then extend outwards and follow your mouse. The distance value is updated as you move the mouse around the screen.

You can then click anywhere else to extend the measure to become a multi-point line:

Screen Shot 2020-08-16 at 17.36.24

Or, double-click to end that measurement and click somewhere else to start a new measurement.

Press the Measure tool button on the right hand side again to clear the map and return to normal.

On a touch screen device you won’t get a red line following your finger :slight_smile: So simply click once on the map with your finger to mark the start point and click again somewhere else to end it.


• DJI Geo Zones

In this update we’ve also added a new airspace map layer.

Against our better judgement, we’ve added the DJI GEO Zones.

This layer, much like the Class D layer, is off by default. You can enable it by selecting the relevant option in the menu.

The aim of us including this layer of information is to demonstrate just how restrictive DJI are and how wildly their “No Fly Zones” differ from actual Flight Restriction Zones.

For example, here’s some actual Flight Restrictions Zones:

And here’s everywhere that DJI will cause you problems, either by nagging you with constant warnings, requiring you unlock things to fly, or simply preventing you from taking off completely:

Another example from elsewhere in the UK:

And then DJI’s interpretation and again, their imposed restrictions on your drone.

They also do things like limit the maximum height you can fly in some places too.

Remember me mentioning that we can link directly to sections of the /About page now?

Well here’s a link which explains a bit more about these DJI GEO Zones: Where can I fly my drone in the UK? - About Drone Scene

This layer may come in handy if you intend to fly somewhere you’ve not been before.

We often hear stories of people heading out to locations, often many (many) miles away, only to find DJI are preventing them from flying there :man_facepalming:

Anyway, if you fly DJI drones, don’t forget to turn this layer off again after you’ve had a nosey - before it makes you too annoyed :confounded: :rage: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:


We hope you enjoy these new additions and as ever, let us know what else you’d like to see added in a future update!

9 Likes

Another reason for using Litchi!

Thanks for this Rich and everyone else involved. It has always been good and just keeps getting better and better :slight_smile:

1 Like