![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/scanifly-sponsored-featured-image-november2024-article3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Takeaway:<\/strong> One-click flight apps are less accurate, more prone to accidents, and more expensive. Every drone comes with its own native flight app, and there are many high-quality drone-agnostic apps on the market for additional customization. Rather than letting a software provider dictate how you fly your drone, it\u2019s better to understand the tools in your toolkit and how to use them to get the best return on investment.<\/p>\n With a third-party automated flight app, you press one button and fly. Feels almost like a dream, right?<\/p>\n But the dream is often better than reality.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the problem:<\/strong> one-click flight apps are typically more prone to accidents, less accurate, and are often unnecessarily expensive.<\/p>\n While there might be some cool factor in a one-click flight, it\u2019s not all it\u2019s cracked up to be. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n Every major manufacturer\u2014DJI, Skydio, Parrot, Autel, and more\u2014has built-in, free flight apps for their drones. These apps are built for more basic use cases and require some pilot skill to navigate, but they are often sufficient.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not experienced with drones or need highly-nuanced custom flight paths, apps like DroneDeploy<\/a> can help you build the flights that make sense for your use cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n The broader point is that you don\u2019t need to lock into one design platform\u2019s chosen flight app\u2014those often cost far more and don\u2019t give you control over your machine. Instead, opt for the apps that are either purpose-built for the drone or give you total control.<\/p>\n When you use a one-click flight that\u2019s pre-set by a design platform, you are forced to follow their flight planning. That is typically address-based\u2014but in many rural areas, such as the Midwest<\/a>, areas of Texas<\/a>, or even some regions of densely populated states like Florida<\/a>, addresses can simply be wrong.<\/p>\n You might actually arrive on-site, click the flight button, and notice the drone going to the wrong property!<\/p>\n The problem only gets worse from there because you can\u2019t do a manual takeover\u2014you\u2019re forced to wait until it finishes, then plan another truck roll (with a different drone, you can fly yourself).<\/p>\n Even if the address is always perfect, you could still run into issues with software update lags. This means your drone could lack features or be out of commission for some time.<\/p>\n One-click flights are built to cover as much ground as possible, meaning they often rely on top-down \u201clawnmower\u201d style flight paths very high in the sky, which can lead to inaccurate measurements and skew<\/a>.<\/p>\n A top-down photo gives you the X and Y axis, but not height (the Z axis). However, real solar designs require the Z axis of everything on the property, so designers conduct a manual process in CAD to estimate the height of the roof, the pitches, and angles, as well as calculate multiple rooflines.<\/p>\n This also poses an issue with shading analysis<\/a> because tree heights are estimated.<\/p>\n When you fly a push-the-button-and-go automation, you\u2019re at greater risk of the drone hitting trees, getting run over by cars, or having issues with neighbors<\/a> who aren\u2019t sure what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a trend where some Surveyors opt not to get a Part 107 license, thinking they don\u2019t need licensing for automated flights.<\/p>\n First, this is a potential legal issue, as Part 107 licenses are required to fly drones for commercial use cases. But second, there’s a further risk of issues because you don\u2019t go through the few hours of training<\/a> required to get the license, so you may not know how to get out of a potential accident.<\/p>\n With the free apps available in every major drone, and high-quality, drone-agnostic flight apps like DroneDeploy, it\u2019s not worth getting locked into a single, expensive flight app.<\/p>\n Even if you are new to drones, the existing flight apps can help you set up a point-of-interest flight so that all you need to do is set up, take off, and manage landing after the fact. The result is higher-quality data that eliminates revisions<\/a>, ensures fitment<\/a>, and makes the whole project smoother<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, it\u2019s about knowing the tools in your toolkit. It may sound cool to push a button and forget about the drone, but you\u2019re using an expensive piece of equipment in a boring and inefficient way. Instead, spend a bit of time learning how to use drones as a valuable solar surveying measurement tool\u2014you\u2019ll not only get far better results, you\u2019ll have a lot more fun.<\/p>\n Sponsored Content by Scanifly<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Takeaway: One-click flight apps are less accurate, more prone to accidents, and more expensive. Every drone comes with its own native flight app, and there are many high-quality drone-agnostic apps on the market for additional customization. Rather than letting a software provider dictate how you fly your drone, it\u2019s better to understand the tools in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20937,"featured_media":107878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5583],"tags":[5582],"class_list":{"2":"type-post","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/scanifly-sponsored-image1-november2024-article3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1. Don\u2019t pay for what you get for free<\/h2>\n
2. One-click flights may end up on the wrong property<\/h2>\n
3. One-click flights are more likely to collect inaccurate data<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/scanifly-sponsored-image2-november2024-article3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n4. One-click flights have more opportunities for accidents<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/scanifly-sponsored-image3-may2024-article3.png\")
<\/p>\nKnow the tools in your toolbox<\/h2>\n