Recently, I received some (gentle) pushback from an irrigation district here in California informing me that, according to the Business and Professions Code, they would not be able list our services (ala DroneDeploy mapping) with them without the identification of our “Land Surveyor”.
I haven’t yet parsed through all the details in “section 8726”, but before I do, is the code really applicable for aerial Drone Deploy mapping? Or is there an approach to pitching such services to ag-related clients that would permit the client to judge that they would not be defying the code?
It’s TBD regarding what services I’ll offer. I’m doing research at this point. So for the purposes of this thread, I’m asking concerning the tools for mapping services that Drone Deploy offers. I’m guessing that there could be conflicts with Drone Deploy tools that take measurements of the earth surface like 3d Models and Elevation/Terrain mapping.
Ran into a similar thing down here in Florida. Essentially using words like survey and survey-grade may put you into a situation where some people may say you are illegally performing surveys. Each states board of professional mappers and surveyors is different, but in general, they are very restrictive and protective of their industry.
In my case I sought legal advise, where I was informed that I would likely win a court case, but that if I changed my product offerings to be called inspections or construction analysis that it would add a little more buffer for me. In addition I am a professional engineer which allows me to perform any engineering survyes and topographic studies for the purpose of my analysis.
Even with all of this I still have talked to a couple of surveyors about teaming up and doing some proof of concept projects to get them on-board. In addition, I think to protect yourself and your deliverables I would consider including the use of gcp’s in your workflow.
Let me know if you have any questions or need a referral to the law offices I use as they are very involved in drone law nation wide.