It would seem that the only way to keep the drone safe across country would be to never let it go more than a few hundred feet from you, where you can clearly SEE what is in front/under it. It's all very well setting height above ground at take off but then there's a 200 feet tall tree, no maps show that!
That's very true. You said it. There's no guarantee of safety. Not in our life or the life of a drone. Anybody who promised that is a bald face liar.
In my particular area, no trees exists that are over 80 feet.
Personally I'd much rather have the topo map within DJI FLY instead of that road map. There's very few roads where I fly.
Topo would be
WAY more useful.
Granted:
No map shows a 100-150 foot drilling rig or power line. They wont show that we're about to fly directly above a gaggle of geese. They certainly don't show the flock of Sandhill Cranes on their Bi-Annual migration, USUALLY above our ceiling but they occasionally land on fields and hill sides. An Eagle or Hawk that's nesting probably isn't happy about our presence.
Those maps certainly don't know that we just flew directly over a trap/skeet range or a pissed off landowner. They don't show any steep topography thats within the contour interval either, so we do need to use them at our own risk! All that said, for anyone who flies canyons or mountains, topo maps are more beneficial than any other type of map.
Laser Range is simple, we could all benefit, and it's old tech; therefore not expensive. Again, just an idea. Do you think DJI or anyone else will implement it...?? I have my doubts.