First-of-Its-Kind App Store for Commercial Drone Users is Here

DroneDeploy, a San Francisco-based provider of a cloud-based drone software platform, has launched the App Market, what the company claims to be the first-of-its-kind app store for the commercial drone industry.

The DroneDeploy App Market, launched with more than 15 inaugural apps, creates a one-stop shop for all aspects of cloud-based drone data analysis, the company explains. Users can now leverage third-party apps within their DroneDeploy interface on Web and mobile devices (iOS and Android).

“Businesses have been asking for a more seamless integration of drone data into their workflows, and third parties have been looking to develop solutions for our global community,” says Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy. “The DroneDeploy App Market offers one-click integrations with companies like Box and John Deere – a huge step in enabling commercial drone users.”

DroneDeploy says its 10,000-plus users across 135 countries have mapped over 8 million acres. Now, for the first time in the commercial drone industry, developers will monetize and easily distribute their apps within a drone data platform. The inaugural apps enable file sharing with Box, importing field boundaries from MyJohnDeere, exporting data to Autodesk, 3D printing drone maps with WhiteClouds, on-demand flight insurance with Verifly, and more.

Other apps include a flight compliance app from AirMap; a roof inspection app from EZ3D; flight logging apps from DroneLogbook, Flyte, Kittyhawk, NVdrones and Skyward; and agriculture apps from Aglytix, AgriSens, Birds.ai, Skymatics, SLANTRANGE and TensorFlight.

The DroneDeploy App Market features free and paid apps. Pricing models for paid apps vary upon the app, from per acre for agriculture apps to per report for roof inspection apps. Once added to an account, the new app will appear integrated within the relevant location within the DroneDeploy interface. For example, if an agriculture app is installed, it may be visible only in the Plant Health data layer and not within other sections of the DroneDeploy interface.

“Until now, DroneDeploy has focused primarily on solving core challenges in the drone space around flight, data collection, processing and analysis,” explains Nicholas Pilkington, DroneDeploy’s chief technology officer and co-founder. “Now we are opening up our stack so that developers can use these technologies themselves and can focus on building specific solutions within their domain expertise without having to reinvent the wheel.”

(Note: Last year, PrecisionHawk also launched a drone app store, designed specifically for data analysis. The company’s Algorithm Marketplace is part of DataMapper.com, the company’s drone data platform.)