There are all sorts of great ways to learn more about drones from the comfort of your own home. There are all sorts of online drone courses, including Part 107 courses, drone mapping courses and aerial photo courses. You can follow video guides and program your own, real drone using Python. There are a bunch of neat drone lesson plans. But most of those courses all come with a fee. Now, there’s a new, free video resource library. With that comes hours of drone education and information that you can stream from your own house.
It comes from aerial and ground reality capture platform DroneDeploy, and it’s called DroneDeploy Insider. In short, it’s a brand-new website that features video streams of past DroneDeploy Conference talks, plus videos made specifically for the service. There are also podcasts, plus downloadable PDFs (in case you want extra info in a format that’s not video).
DroneDeploy bills its new DroneDeploy Insider free video resource library as “a Netflix-style content streaming platform for reality capture education and entertainment.” For now, DroneDeploy Insider’s content includes:
- news
- podcasts
- video series
- on-demand virtual events
- in-depth playbooks from the DroneDeploy team
- keynote and session recordings from its annual DroneDeploy Conference, which was rebranded recently to be called Horizons
DroneDeploy said it would add more content series in the future. Some of the top videos to watch right now include:
- Reality Capture LIVE (replay): This is a series of nearly a dozen, roughly-hour-long videos led by experts in construction, energy and agriculture. They’re usually in a Q&A or conversational format offering tips and tactics around reality capture.
- Built Different podcast: This is technically not a video, but rather a podcast. Though, you can see a video feed of the speakers, if you choose. It’s all about reality capture with a focus on construction. Hosted by Grant Hagen, Brian Vizarreta and Adam Della Monica, each episode runs around 30 minutes long. There are already dozens of episodes streaming.
- Reality Capture RECAP: If you only have a few minutes to spare, this is your series. Each week, a new, roughly 10-minute episode shares the top news, product releases or rumors in the drone and broader Reality Capture industry. Hosted by Grant Hagen, who also co-hosts the Built Different podcast and serves as the DroneDeploy Head of Community, the series currently has about a dozen episodes, with more rolling in. Recent episodes include a DJI Avata 2 review and a guide to the DJI Dock 2, which is the latest of DJI’s drone docks.
Going forward, expect to see video recordings from sessions at Horizons, which is the 2024 edition of the annual DroneDeploy conference. That conference is set for October 2024. And though it’ll be one of the top drone events of 2024, it’s expensive (a full conference pass starts at $1,049). Streaming it later on DroneDeploy Insider won’t get you to networking (nor will it get you that Arizona sunshine). But, it will save you a lot of money.
How to watch the DroneDeploy free video episodes
Though the DroneDeploy videos are free to watch, you will need to register. To do that, you can make a free account on the DroneDeploy Insider website.
Who is the target audience with the DroneDeploy Insider free video resource library? In short, any would-be or current DroneDeploy customers.
“Whether you’re a technology manager or director, a project superintendent or field engineer, or an executive sponsor of reality capture technology, DroneDeploy Insider has the content and conversations to help you understand what’s possible with reality capture,” said Matt Daly, Chief Marketing Officer at DroneDeploy, in a prepared statement.