As the owner of a small company (civil engineering consultancy) which sits in this range you talk about, I can say I will be going to Nearmap before I use a drone operator. I don't think I could get imagery which is set to scale and correct coordinates cheaper from a drone operator versus using Nearmap service. The drone operator would have to be a registered surveyor for me to use it in our designs.
Not only this, it will also take more of my time to engage a drone operator and get the job done correctly than it would if I use Nearmap. This convenience has to be factored in as well.
What I would engage a drone operator for is when I need photography/video to use in marketing and for LIDAR services if the job permits.
I imagine the size of the files produced using LIDAR will make this cost prohibitive for Nearmap for the time being, but this could be a huge add on to nearmap in the future.
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