Unmanned Aircraft Systems – Successful Usage Limited by the Regulation?

In the last several years, with mass appearance of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), we have been witnessing a new revolution in geodetic profession. The potential of UAS in different areas of geodesy is very big and probably the phrase “only sky is the limit” fits perfectly. However sometimes the UAS are misused for illegal purposes which puts a negative light to their usage. Many countries started to regulate the usage of UAS. Even on the EU level there is ongoing process regarding UAS regulation. The question is how much it limits their usage and where the appropriate balance is. In this paper we give an overview of the existing regulation and a possible answer to the posted question.