Navigating Michigan’s Drone Laws: Insights for Spatial Collect Users
The use of drones in technical work isn’t new, but the presence of drones for physical inventory and observations is becoming more common across all areas. When it comes to spatial solutions, users of Spatial Collect have found drone use to be plentiful in their operations. For local governments, the use of drone technology has been especially useful to augment their physical observations in the field of assessment and other purposes. With the ever-growing use of drones in the economy and industry, understanding the regulations surrounding drone operations has become increasingly important to know. The technology itself is important enough to note for many local government users, as it can enable operations and further expand their role for tax and other municipal activities. For example, drones are used by local governments on a regular basis for disaster recovery and for LiDAR scanning.
When it comes to drones in Michigan, the laws are fairly comprehensive. As a brief overview, some of the more notable drone laws in Michigan are: To have a drone: you must follow the federal regulations set forth by the FAA. License: Commercial drone operators must hold a special license in order to fly a drone for business purposes and to operate the drone for compensation. Since Michigan is not a state that requires a specific license for drone operation, following the federal license requirement for commercial use is enough. Fly away, fly here: You need insurance in order to perform drone services in Michigan, so it’s important that you follow this rule and get insured as soon as possible. The minimum coverage required is $50,000.
The use of drones in Michigan is highly specialized, given the unique challenges that come up between the vast geography, the active presence of non-public water sources, and of course changing weather conditions. Michigan has a wide variety of areas, with both dense urban centers and a diverse range of rural environments. As such, the user base in Michigan is both vast and varied, but for most, the cost and time saving benefits of using drones are major drivers in their competitive advantage. Here are some examples of drone use that Spatial Collect users have noted: The advantages of using drones in a spatial context are apparent. When it comes to the actual functionality of drones, there have been a number of notable developments. For one, there are many options out there for the type of drone you want to use. For example, you can choose from dozens of drone types, and you can find any of them at any price point you desire. That said, as the user base has increased, so too has prices for drones. Gone are the days of cheap drones that sell for just under $50 or so. Now, a good medium grade drone will start around $1000, and on to upwards of $10,000, depending on what you want to do with it. Nonetheless, aerial photography and collected data over physical space are far more cost-effective than they have ever been-and the applications remain endless.
Costs can add up, especially if you’re operating multiple drones or get to an area that is hard to access-such as Lansing or Detroit, or anywhere near the Great Lakes. There are also strict licensing and insurance requirements that local governments must consider, and the company or individual flying the drone needs to be aware of federal drone regulation requirements. Given these costs, finding an easy way to know what these drone laws are is always suggested. Since the average drone will fly several miles and will at times move into other counties or states, knowing the laws of the land is incredibly important. Not just that, nor can you pick and choose which laws to pay attention to. A failure to have the appropriate licensing, insurance, and permission to fly your drone is punishable by law. This can include fines and imprisonment, and your drone could be violated. This is especially true when you break drone laws in places such as airports or metropolitan areas.
Rather than leave it up to chance, knowing all of the perimeters for every state and municipality is incredibly helpful and recommended. Enough so, that this article itself does not go into much detail about the laws. Instead of going over all of the regulations, there is a detailed representation of drone laws in Michigan provided here in the dofollow link as featured above. The bottom line is that all drone activity must comply with local, state, and federal requirements, so protect yourself and do the due diligence of knowing the law.