Picture a Hollywood director shooting a climactic scene using aerial photography and then imagine using the same vantage point to show off office towers, trophy homes and high-rise condos. That’s the vision that’s driving the real estate industry’s growing embrace of drones as a marketing tool.
“What the drone allows you to do is obtain the stuff that everybody loves,” said Rodrigo Lopez, chief creative officer for digital marketing agency Neoscape of South Boston. “It’s the dramatic footage you see in films.”
Developers and brokers have enlisted these next-generation paparazzi to shoot footage of development sites in Boston and Somerville. Residential brokers are using them to showcase residential estates. Digital marketers are testing the potential of drones even as the use of unmanned vehicles comes under closer scrutiny from privacy advocates, civil libertarians, regulators and law enforcement.
The advent of affordable remote-controlled vehicles equipped with digital cameras has made it possible to capture dazzling birds-eye photos and videos at a fraction of what they cost in the past. A decade ago, Neoscape and competitors would have rented a helicopter to film aerial footage, at a cost of approximately $400 an hour.
Today, that $400 will buy a DGI Phantom four-rotor drone that flies 33 feet per second and runs on AA batteries. Typically the drone is paired with a GoPro camera controlled by a smartphone or tablet.
Using a quad copter custom-built by a group of tech-savvy employees, Neoscape has shot high-definition footage of development sites along the booming South Boston waterfront. Newton-based New England Development recently hired Neoscape to shoot aerials of the harbor and skyline views from the former Anthony’s Pier 4 site, where it plans to build an office tower. Another assignment was used to create a rendering of the future views from 22 Liberty, the high-rise condo complex being built by The Fallon Co. of Boston at the Fan Pier.
Matt Murphy, president of Charlestown-based Boston Virtual Imaging, said the results are more dramatic than those he used to take from a helicopter.
“The people who are asking us about it have a certain kind of story to tell that it’s hard to tell on the ground,” Murphy said. “These are great for telling stories from six to 60 feet.”
Murphy founded the company in 2002 and began dabbling as a hobbyist with remote-controlled helicopters a few years ago. Last year, he bought a DJI Phantom quad-copter online which can carry a GoPro camera or a digital SLR.
No Fly Zone
As he hones the art of drone photography, Murphy so far has resisted the urge to use the images for commercial purposes, which are currently prohibited by the FAA.
“There are people who are doing that in pretty much any metro area who will do this as a paid service, but we’re an established company and we don’t have time to be tangled up with the FAA on regulatory issues,” he said.
Currently, drones are covered under the same FAA rules as model aircraft. “Unmanned aircraft systems” in FAA parlance, they can be flown no higher than 400 feet, should remain a “sufficient distance” from populated areas and conventional aircraft, and cannot be used for business purposes.
But enforcement has been rare. The FAA said it has issued 12 warning letters to drone operators, the Associated Press reported Feb. 12. Last year, the FAA proposed a $10,000 fine for Raphael Pirker, who it said operated a drone recklessly during a commercial shoot at the University of Virginia in 2011. Pirker is contesting the fine, arguing that the FAA rule didn’t go through a required public review before it was enacted.
In the meantime, Congress in 2012 ordered the FAA to update its regulations for the use of unmanned aircraft for various uses from agriculture to delivery of consumer products, but the FAA says it won’t be able to meet the upcoming 2015 deadline.
“Obviously people are flying drones around,” said Matthew Henshon, an attorney at the Boston law firm Henshon Klein LLP. “I don’t think the FAA is going to come around confiscating them, but the rule is it’s not supposed to be used for commercial purposes at this time.”
The broader debate over the use of drones by law enforcement and for the collection of personal data is just beginning. U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., has proposed legislation that would prohibit the use of drones by law enforcement without a warrant and require the FAA to develop a privacy policy before authorizing commercial drone use.
“At some point, the Supreme Court is going to wade back into this issue,” Henshon said.
Email: sadams@thewarrengroup.com
