Global maps from Europa helps to define no-fly zones for drones

On 17 April 2016, a British Airways A320 aircraft was struck by a drone during its approach into London Heathrow airport. The aircraft, travelling from Geneva, was carrying 132 passengers and 5 crew. The incident has been well publicised in both UK and international press and demonstrates the real danger of operating UAVs in controlled airspace.

Many media reports have referred to on-board “geofencing” which is the concept of using GPS (or other positioning technologies) with a reference database of explicit areas which are inclusion or exclusion zones. Should a geofence rule be broken, an action can be taken. In the case of a drone, take-off could be blocked or onward movement restricted. Some makers of popular UAVs, such as Chinese manufacturer DJI, include geofencing in their products as standard.

In February 2016, Europa Technologies announced the latest version of its leading suite of global map data products. In addition to an extensive database of airports worldwide, the Global Insight Plus and Global Discovery data products include a new airport areas layer. Captured from satellite imagery, the new data outlines the operational area of over 3000 international and domestic airports worldwide. The airport areas database is an ideal component to build buffered no-fly zones in and around airports.

Warren Vick, Founder & Director of Europa Technologies comments, “We are united with professional and amateur UAV operators who are concerned with flight safety. The extensive airport areas database in our global map data products is an important component to ensure that prohibited and controlled airspace is observed. With the FAA predicting that there will be over 7 million small drones in US airspace by 2020, it is critical for the future of the industry that mandatory safety controls, including geofencing, are universally implemented.”