The drone industry is still in its early stages, and AirMap wants to help it reach its full potential. AirMap is an airspace-management platform provider designed to help drones become a part of everyday life. To do so, the company is opening up its airspace technology through a series of APIs and SDKs to developers.
“It is clear that there are thousands and thousands of innovations across the globe doing amazing things with drones. Every day I hear about another amazing use case for drones,” said Ben Marcus, CEO of AirMap. “There is no way we could reach real scale unless we made tools that are very easy for developers of all sizes to leverage drone capabilities.”
AirMap provides JavaScript, iOS and Android SDKs, as well as status, airspace, flight, pilot, aircraft and map APIs that allow developers to add airspace information, airspace rules, information about the drone, and flight requirements into their solutions.
For instance, DJI uses AirMap’s real-time airspace information to provide geofencing in their application, according to Marcus.
Kittyhawk, a commercial drone solution provider, uses AirMap to provide real-time airspace maps based on its users? location, or on areas a user is interested in. “AirMap has done an exceptional job abstracting away the complexity of airspace, operational regulations, and laws,” said Josh Ziering, cofounder of Kittyhawk. “Now, all of that critical data that was once in disparate places has been coalesced into one easy-to-read map. This makes it easy for Kittyhawk users to conduct a thorough preflight and know they’re operating safely and within the confines of the rules.”
In addition, Marcus notes smaller businesses and individual developers can take advantage of its technologies in order to create new and interesting drone solutions. AirMap will also showcase advanced feature rich applications. “People have come to appreciate our openness, our collaborativeness, accuracy, and the depth of airspace intelligence that we offer,” he said.
When creating solutions for drones, developers have the additional complexity and opportunity of developing not just for software, but hardware and software. In order for these flying machines to be safely integrated into the sky in a way that provides value, operators need to be aware of their airspace and geography. With the FAA releasing Part 107 and enabling people to operate drones commercially, it is now more important than ever to provide a safer operating environment.
“AirMap helps Kittyhawk amplify responsible operation to a larger ecosystem of partners so that everyone is more informed about what’s happening in the National Airspace,” said Ziering. “At Kittyhawk, we strive to help commercial drone operators create a culture of safety, and AirMap has been extremely helpful toward that goal.”
