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Where is Dronebase?!

drummingchevy

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Joined
Jan 6, 2018
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Age
34
Location
North Houston, TX
For those of you who fly for Dronebase, where are the pano missions? I was logged in this afternoon looking for nearby missions but when I logged back in tonight, the pano map is GONE!!! Same with the Active Missions page. I don't see anything other than their pushing the 4K Getty creative videos. Did something happen that I hadn't heard about? I'm not seeing any announcements on their site...
 
The panos have been phased out, according to Nick from DB they are focusing on replacing them with missions with guaranteed payouts...haven't heard any details as to what exactly they will replace them with but to be honest I always found the panos to be kind of a waste of time with only about a 30% sell rate. There is a facebook group that Nick is active in...Log into Facebook | Facebook
 
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It can be...I don't think there was any way to make the pano missions profitable but there can be decent money in the client missions. I've made a little over 2k with them over about 7 months so it definitively isn't something you can rely on for steady income but it can add up. I've done jobs for them that paid $40 and were literally 2 pictures and took 5 minutes, all the way up to a real estate video job that paid $225 for 10 basic video shots that took about 40 minutes on site. It all really depends on your area though and how you handle them...I've been getting a steady flow of requests from them for jobs in a city about a hour from me and if I took those I wouldn't make any money once I factor in travel time so I have been declining at least a few missions a week.
 
All in all after I did a few pano missions(which I saw as their way of vetting pilots work) I've never accepted any work from them in which I wouldn't make over about 140 per hour and its been really easy to work with them...they pay almost instantly, there is no post editing and they are generally all really nice people.
 
All in all after I did a few pano missions(which I saw as their way of vetting pilots work) I've never accepted any work from them in which I wouldn't make over about 140 per hour and its been really easy to work with them...they pay almost instantly, there is no post editing and they are generally all really nice people.

Did they change the application / process? I used to be able to view a map with available missions all over the state and select a mission, now I cannot do that?
 
I received an email from them this past Thursday. I had one request a couple of weeks ago that was canceled by the client an hour after it was posted. I’m hoping to hear more requests in my area.

Here’s the email.

DroneBase_DarkBlue_OrangeL_500Width.png


Hello!

Our Mission at DroneBase is to provide the most scalable, affordable, and easy-to-integrate solution for enterprises to acquire drone data by operating the world's largest pilot network.

Today, we’re excited to announce our Series B round of fundraising, co-led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and Upfront Ventures alongside DJI and new investors Hearst Ventures and Pritzker Group.

These new resources will empower our team to reach our Mission and better serve you, our valued pilot, by giving you more opportunities to make money by flying your drone.

If you're interested in learning more, please visit our blog. We look forward to growing with you and thank you for being a part of our journey and our team.

Sincerely,

dan_headshot.png

Dan Burton
Co-founder & CEO


eli_headshot.png

Eli Tamanaha
Co-founder & CTO

The DroneBase Pilot App is available on iOS and coming soon to Android!
 
Did they change the application / process? I used to be able to view a map with available missions all over the state and select a mission, now I cannot do that?
The missions you used to be able to select are the pano missions that have been phased out. If you're looking to get in with them I would try subbmitting some "creative" missions.
 
I’m hoping they replace them soon. Now I can’t make any money where with the pano missions I could improve my flying skills with a chance of making money
 
The panos have been phased out, according to Nick from DB they are focusting on replacing them with missions with guaranteed payouts...haven't heard any details as to what exactly they will replace them with but to be honest I always found the panos to be kind of a waste of time with only about a 30% sell rate. There is a facebook group that Nick is active in...Log into Facebook | Facebook

They've also added these new Insurance missions (Eaglebase) However, they generally pay about $70 for a mission that requires about 60-70 stills and a lot of special rules and requirements. I don't have a problem with the scope of the job, but the time and effort to meet all the requirements and get the shots, not to mention travel time and distance generally exceeds a payment that's about $20 more than what they used to pay for panos. Not real happy with these and often have to refuse cause we have another job that pays better.
 
$20 more than a pano? Pano missions only paid $19 on the rare occasion that they sold. To be honest the insurance missions aren't worth it all the time and I only take them if they are on my way to somewhere that makes the travel a non issue and as for the mission requirements even with over 70 shots the whole thing can be done easily in 20-30 minutes so the payout is still much more than a pano ever was. You have to remember that the insurance missions are inspections not real estate photography so you dont have to spend tons of time framing a perfect shot for every picture, just make sure your exposure is good, get the data and get out. If your taking more than 30 minutes for a mission then you're not working efficiently. Also the eagleview missions have been going since last year, I did my first one for them in July.
 
$20 more than a pano? Pano missions only paid $19 on the rare occasion that they sold. To be honest the insurance missions aren't worth it all the time and I only take them if they are on my way to somewhere that makes the travel a non issue and as for the mission requirements even with over 70 shots the whole thing can be done easily in 20-30 minutes so the payout is still much more than a pano ever was. You have to remember that the insurance missions are inspections not real estate photography so you dont have to spend tons of time framing a perfect shot for every picture, just make sure your exposure is good, get the data and get out. If your taking more than 30 minutes for a mission then you're not working efficiently. Also the eagleview missions have been going since last year, I did my first one for them in July.

I was getting about $30-50 for panos but only did about 4-6 before I moved to client missions. Even with CM's, if I have to drive an hour or more, it's generally not worth it although some CM have paid enough to drive a couple of hours round trip. Almost all of the insurance jobs sent my way have been an hour's drive. As you said earlier; "...To be honest the insurance missions aren't worth it all the time."
 
I was getting about $30-50 for panos but only did about 4-6 before I moved to client missions. Even with CM's, if I have to drive an hour or more, it's generally not worth it although some CM have paid enough to drive a couple of hours round trip. Almost all of the insurance jobs sent my way have been an hour's drive. As you said earlier; "...To be honest the insurance missions aren't worth it all the time."
That's interesting. Ive spoken with dozens of pilots involved with DB in the last few months and you are the first person to ever say they got more than $19 for a pano mission that wasn't an assigned client mission. Personally I did 7 of them when I started and 3 sold, each for $19 which is why I didn't bother with them as that wasn't worth the time.
 
Is it that the pay is not worth it or are you traveling outside your limits for a job?
Could be either or both... Ive turned down jobs that they offered to pay me $130 for a job a little over an hour away that wasnt worth the time to me. They've also sent me a job that was about 2.5 hours away for $90...needless to say I've turned down alot of jobs like that but someone else might feel differently and think its worth the time.
 
That's interesting. Ive spoken with dozens of pilots involved with DB in the last few months and you are the first person to ever say they got more than $19 for a pano mission that wasn't an assigned client mission. Personally I did 7 of them when I started and 3 sold, each for $19 which is why I didn't bother with them as that wasn't worth the time.

I should have mentioned that I was onboard with them from the start. The pay quoted was almost a year and a half ago or more and more $30 than $50. I haven't done a pano in more than a year. It appears they adjusted the rates before discontinuing them.
 
Is it that the pay is not worth it or are you traveling outside your limits for a job?

A little of both. Someone mentioned earlier that the insurance jobs shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes. That's probably true, but for safety reasons, I tend not to rush things, so I'd say more like 45-mins. Add 1-hr 20-min round trip if there's no traffic and another 20-30 to upload...$70 for 2-1/2 hours of work?? My hour and half-day rate easily exceeds this.
 

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