Yes, exactly.
Great questions. The disclaimer is good but it may still confuse the average consumer who just sees the bright lines superimposed on a cool aerial image and assume that is where the boundary lines are. If that is permitted, then anyone could provide a similar service using
Parlay images superimposed on a google earth image. The
Parlay disclaimer is very similar to the one at issue here in the survey case. If interested, check out link below.
Property Lines & Parcel Data Layer for Google Earth
Enhance Google Earth with PARLAY 2.0, layering parcel data for 158.8M U.S. properties. Access property lines, boundaries, and 123M building footprints.
reportallusa.com
There is a difference in scope between PARLAY's disclaimer and what the operator's disclaimer presumably covered.
PARLAY's disclaimer (see "Accuracy of Information in the
TOS) covers the usage of the tool by the user. In the drone operator's situation, he is providing a service that would be typically provided by a licensed surveyor. In his state, that is illegal. IANAL and I don't know if his disclaimer provided any room for him to provide that service.
As a layperson, if I gave someone legal advice, that would be
considered malpractice by the American Bar Association. In my state (NY), it could be considered to be the
Unlicensed Practice of Law and that would be a Class E Felony. It's the same principle for any licensed profession.
Ideally, there should be a NC license for drone surveying that would have a simpler path to obtain than a full surveying license. In addition to the drone insurance, the drone operator would carry liability insurance to cover the surveying services provided. In place of that, the drone operator should have partnered with a licensed surveyor and have that person sign off on the surveying services provided.
If you ran a business and used surveying information from someone without a license, then it's on you if you make a mistake based on that information. For example, if you use that information to determine your property boundaries and then cut down trees on someone else's property based on faulty boundary data, that is going to be an expensive mistake. The operator's drone insurance would not cover that.
If you had used a licensed professional, their liability insurance
should defer the costs of remedying that situation. Take that with a grain of salt. In addition to not being a lawyer, I'm especially not a tree law lawyer.