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How a plan is made.

A planning agent that reads the place, a rule-based validator that checks every metre, and you in command. What each part does, what data it uses, and where its limits are.

Sources

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Diagram: a planned mapping route, five legs flown 60 m above a site, drawn to scale60 m
The planned route, drawn to scale: a mapping grid 60 m above the site, a waypoint at every turn, the drone at its head.

The data, place by place.

Every mission records which data it was planned with. Where the data is thinner, the margins are wider, and the mission says so.

Sun position and light are computed for the exact place and date, everywhere.

The planning agent.

The planner is an AI agent built on Anthropic's Claude models. It works like a pilot preparing a job, with a toolbox of 15 tools for the data above, geometry for orbits and mapping grids, and the validator. Each step is reported live while it plans.

  1. Reads the request

    The target, the job type, your words, the drone, the date, and the region's data and rules.

  2. Looks at the place

    The target and its neighbours, terrain and obstacle heights, a clear takeoff spot.

  3. Checks light, weather and airspace

    The sun's path for the day, the forecast for the hour, and the zones around the target.

  4. Writes the shot list

    The pattern the job needs, in the order the light and the battery allow, with a reason for each shot.

  5. Computes and validates

    Exact geometry, then the validator. If a check fails, it fixes the plan and validates again.

  6. Explains it

    How it read the brief, why the shots look the way they do, the takeoff, heights, light, and its assumptions.

median planning time in our benchmark of six reference jobs (3.5–10.8 min)
6.7 min
to revise a plan when you ask for changes
~2 min
models: standard jobs on a faster one, harder jobs on the most capable
2

The model never decides what is safe enough. The validator does, with the same rules for every model.

The validator: 89 checks.

A separate program with fixed rules, not a model. It checks the plan at every waypoint and every 2 m along each leg. Some checks stop a plan until it's fixed; others are warnings you read on the mission.

Clearance

  • 5 m from buildings, unless 5 m above the roof
  • 5 m above trees and other laser obstacles
  • 3 m above terrain, 5 m beside faces and edges, 8 m on curves
  • A clear takeoff, and a clear spot if the drone lands itself

Height and distance

  • At most 120 m above the ground
  • At most 500 m from takeoff, in line of sight
  • Speed, waypoints and gimbal within the drone's limits
  • The DJI Fly Max Altitude to set, and a warning above 120 m over takeoff

Battery and return

  • Flight time at most 70% of the rated time, less in the cold
  • Return-to-home height at least 10 m above the tallest obstacle
  • The way home checked for obstacles and terrain
  • Signal loss never set to land where it is

Airspace, weather, people

  • Prohibited, restricted and controlled zones stop the plan unless you've declared a permit
  • Wind and gusts against the drone's limits, rain, heat and cold
  • Backlight and low sun for the shots
  • Neighbours' windows and gardens, and flights over other people's property

Rules we check against

The EU open category: at most 120 m above the ground, and the drone within visual line of sight. Skyplanr checks the plan against these limits; the rules and your own assessment still apply.Sources: EASA open category, Luftfartstilsynet

Large jobs, several flights.

DJI Fly waypoint missions don't resume after a battery swap and take at most 200 waypoints. So a job that is too big for one battery is split into flights from the same takeoff.

  • Split only when the job is above the 70% battery budget or 200 waypoints
  • Each flight uses at most 68% of the rated flight time, less in the cold
  • Up to 1000 waypoints per mission
  • Never cut while video records; every flight ends with return-to-home
  • Each flight validated on its own, one file per flight in every format
Diagram: the same mapping route as two flights, each with its dashed way home to the takeoff beside the siteFlight 1Flight 260 m
Too long for one battery: the grid becomes two flights from the same takeoff, each checked on its own and each ending with return-to-home.

See it before you fly.

  • 3D preview

    The route at its true height over terrain and buildings, and laser trees where we have them. Play the flight and the drone follows the route, waypoint by waypoint.

  • Day-of-flight card

    Go, caution or no-go for the hour you plan to fly, from 7 measured items: wind at height, gusts, rain, temperature, visibility, the Kp index and daylight.

  • Waypoint editor

    Move a point, change a height or a gimbal angle, and the validator re-checks at once. Saved as a new version; it never uses an AI plan.

  • Client links

    A private page with the shot list, the date and what we checked. The client approves or asks for changes without an account, and never sees flight files.

  • Photo check

    After the flight, drop in the photos: we read DJI's metadata, match them to the planned shots, and plan a re-fly of the ones that were missed.

Day-of-flight checkExample

Good to fly

Wind at route height, 82 m
about 3.1 m/s
Gusts
5.9 m/s · limit 12 m/s
Rain
0 mm/h
Temperature
12 °C
Visibility
No fog
Kp index
3.7
Daylight
Sunset 19:05

You're always the pilot in command.

Into the flight app you already use.

The mission installs in DJI Fly. Everything else is an export, and every export is free.

Install in DJI Fly

  • iPhone app: create one empty waypoint mission in DJI Fly once; Skyplanr replaces its contents and checks the result
  • DJI RC and RC 2: copy the file over USB, already named for the controller
  • Drones: DJI Mini 4 Pro, DJI Mini 5 Pro, DJI Air 3, DJI Air 3S, DJI Mavic 3 Pro, DJI Mavic 4 Pro

Export

  • DJI Fly KMZ
  • DJI Pilot 2 KMZ (enterprise drones, switched on per account)
  • Litchi CSV
  • QGroundControl .plan
  • KML in 3D
  • GeoJSON
  • Mission JSON

Import

  • Routes: DJI KMZ, Litchi CSV, QGroundControl .plan and .waypoints, KML and GeoJSON
  • Areas: KML and GeoJSON polygons as targets
  • Flown tracks: DJI SRT, GPX and EdgeTX radio logs
  • Files are read in your browser, then checked by the validator

FPV: planned, then flown by hand.

Spot check

The rules for your aircraft, what is within 150 and 50 metres, geo-zones, residents nearby, eight hours of weather and the light, on a printable session card.

Line of sight

The lowest height that keeps a straight line to your antenna, cell by cell, out to 2 km, from laser heights. The radio view adds the Fresnel zone at 5.8 GHz.

One-take previz

Up to 60 points through or around a building, a speed per part, first-person, chase and overview fly-throughs, and a clearance check that flags close passes.

Plan against flown

Load the radio log or a GPX track and see how far the flight strayed from the plan, side to side and up and down.

Diagram: an FPV line from the side, rising from 5 m to 28 m over a row of rooftops through six points, with the close pass over a ridge marked5 m28 mclose pass

Privacy and security.

  • Accounts, missions and files are stored in the EU, in Stockholm, with row-level security on every table
  • API keys and share links are stored only as hashes; everything travels over TLS
  • The planning model receives the brief, the target and the map context, never your password, and doesn't train on them
  • Card payments are handled by Stripe; Skyplanr never sees or stores card numbers
  • Some providers are in the USA (the planning model, maps, hosting); transfers use the EU's standard contractual clauses
Read the privacy notice

Honest limits.

What the planner doesn't know, and what stays your job as the pilot in command.

  • Advice, not a permission. Check the site, the zones, NOTAMs and the rules yourself before you lift off.See: Luftfartstilsynet, EASA open category
  • Airspace comes from official zone data and links. We don't receive live restrictions or NOTAMs: check them before every flight.See: ippc.no, dronesoner.no (Luftfartstilsynet)
  • Laser data is a few years old. Trees grow and new buildings appear; look before you fly close.See: Kartverket height data
  • Wind at height is estimated from the forecast, and labelled so.See: MET Norway
  • Outside Norway there are no tree heights, so close work is left to you.
  • Mapping gives photogrammetry-ready overlap, not survey-grade accuracy: about 1–3 m absolute without RTK.
  • Team features (organisations, sign-off, compliance packs, the API) are in early access.

Sources.

The primary sources for the data and the rules on this page. Each mission also records which data it was planned with.

Data

  • Norway's national laser data: the terrain (DTM) and surface (DOM) models at 1 m, for terrain, roofs, trees and masts.

  • Geonorgegeonorge.no

    Kartverket's map services, through which the planner reads the elevation models and addresses.

  • Norway's land register: property boundaries and buildings, for the checks over other people's property.

  • Norway's official geo-zones for drones (ED-269 data, NLOD 2.0).

  • MET Norwayapi.met.no

    Locationforecast 2.0: wind, gusts, rain and temperature for the hour, everywhere.

  • NOAA Kp indexswpc.noaa.gov

    The planetary K-index from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center: geomagnetic activity, which can disturb GPS and the compass.

  • Copernicus DEMdataspace.copernicus.eu

    GLO-30, global elevation at 30 m: the terrain in Dubai, and a fallback elsewhere.

  • Terrain Tiles on AWSregistry.opendata.aws

    Open global elevation, 10–30 m, outside Norway and Dubai.

  • WRI and Meta canopy heightsregistry.opendata.aws

    Tree heights from satellite imagery, in Dubai.

  • Overture Mapsoverturemaps.org

    Building footprints in Dubai.

  • OpenStreetMapopenstreetmap.org

    Buildings, aerodromes, masts, power lines and woods. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Rules and official services

  • EASA open categoryeasa.europa.eu

    The EU rules for drones in the open category, including the 120 m height limit and visual line of sight.

  • Luftfartstilsynetluftfartstilsynet.no

    The Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority: the drone rules in Norway.

  • ippc.noippc.no

    NOTAMs and flight briefing for Norway. Skyplanr doesn't read them: check before every flight.

  • The drone rules and permits in Dubai.

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