OP, post this question to the Reddit UAV Mapping subforum. Some of their answers on similar questions have been very good and sometimes downright creative.
I have way to many questions to ask but here is my opinion trying to stick to your...
In the US, governement entitites can operate as a Public Aircraft and gain BVLOS with your examples amongst other risk mitigation strategies. There is also the ability to obtain waivers for civil operators although these tend to be a bit more...
Ensuring I wasn’t flying over people was a challenge and I spent a lot of time looking straight down for a path that would ensure I was flying safely within the rules. We had to get FAA permission on the first stretch on the river but that was a...