Drone flying in Norway has it's challenges. I bought an 3D Robotics Quadcopter in June. Parts of this summer holiday was spent getting through the practical side of flying - both using the stics and MissionPlanner. All in all great fun!
I wanted to learn more about how to take aerial photography. Rather straightforward until you learn that the national security agency wants to know when and what you will be photographing. So I had to send them an application which they expeditiously answered yes to.
The next step was to make sure I followed all air safety regulations and had the proper insurances. Fine - easy but a bit expensive.
And while I was at it I considered if the regulations motor based activities in wilderness areas could be an issue. I also learnt that flying with birds could be a problem in relation to the biodiversity act. Flying within some protected areas is also not allowed.
I wrote it all up in a rather lengthy Norwegian blog post which can be read using Google Translate. If you plan on bringing your quadcopter or similar to Norway it could be well worth reading up on the issues.
After completing my efforts I managed to take some great imagery. The imagery below was made using trial software from Pix4UAV. It is of the farm where I did my testing. It was made making a mosaic of several images. I then made an elevation model and ultimately did a hillshade analysis. The final hillshade was put on top of the imagery making increasing the depth experience for the viewer.
I will follow up with some posts on how to adopt aerial survey methods drones.
Comments
Writing the application and waiting for it to be approved is not such a biggie. I will keep doing it. But as I said in the article the pressure on the approving organization will, of everyone follows the regulations, after a while be quite big. And since this is governed by law the security agency does not have much choice in this.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I gathered. Incomprehensible amount of ridiculous (e.g. having to know when, where, how long, ...) paperwork, but luckily little enforcement. Business as usual.
Martin, from a legal stand point very much work. But practically no work at all. There is no police that runs around arresting people with multi-copters and cameras. So as long as you are doing it privately and low-key it will be fine. It's kinda like speeding. Everybody does it now and then.
What is missing is a requirements matrix for different countries and regions.
So how realistic is it for a foreigner (say an EU citizen to make it easier) to head to Norway and fly a big hexa to photograph your fjords?
That reminds me - must upload my footage of the flyover of the Swiss Bloodhound site just up the road. It was...
... Wait there's someone knocking loudly on the front door....
:-)
Apple just got a taste of the regulations when trying to have Oslo (our capital) photographed for their 3D maps. There obviously were some buildings in town which should be kept out of sight.You can read the full story in english here.
The article states "There are several areas around Oslo that are considered especially sensitive and thus off-limits to photographers. The military’s own headquarters for its intelligence unit known as Etterretningstjenesten, or E-tjenesten, is among them, where severe photo restrictions already are in place at the unit’s compound near Lutvann on Oslo’s east side."
And to be on the safe side this goes for the rest of the country as well.
Wow, that will help with security. If you are some kind of spy or other evildoer, when you ask for permission they will say no, and you will go "darn, foiled again". Why don't they just declare secretive industrial or military areas off limits for aerial photography? These places have security forces patrolling and would see suspicious flying behavior of any kind of aircraft. It used to be the case,"if it is not forbidden, it is permitted", now it's "if it is not permitted, it is forbidden". That's a quot from a visiting Russian scientist, about 20 years ago about the difference from old USSR and the US.
Wow! You had to ask permission from the national security authorities to fly above someone's farmhouse...?
Remind me to strike Norway off the places-I-must-visit list then!