Revamping the FAA’s B4UFLY mobile drone app
How Kittyhawk improved user experience with dynamic maps
By: Lianna Martin
Earlier this summer, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) relaunched its public-facing drone operator app, B4UFLY, built by Kittyhawk with new maps, styling and user interaction. B4UFLY aims to help recreational drone users decipher complicated FAA flight rules to show where they can and cannot fly.
The previous B4UFly app had a 1.5 out of 5-star rating on the iOS App Store. Using Studio, Tilequery API, and Uploads API, Kittyhawk was able to completely revamp the B4UFly app user experience and styling of restrictions and warnings. After relaunching, the B4UFly app ratings have shot up to 4.2 out of 5 stars on iOS.
The FAA’s airspace restrictions and no-fly zones are constantly updating. Using Tippecanoe and the Uploads API, Kittyhawk is able to quickly turn these GeoJSON flight restriction zones into tilesets and display them as color-coded polygons on the map. Using Studio, they created a custom map style that features our hillshade layer type, which provides a terrain 3D view of hills and mountains across the 2D surface of a phone. Users can interact with the map to easily find nearby areas that are safe to fly at any point in time.
Incredible Update! I’ve been a long-time user of the B4UFLY app and the new update with the inclusion of Kitty Hawk has been a tremendous help! It does a great job breaking down each area where an air space restriction may apply and gives insight as to why that restriction is in place. Keep up the great work!
- Review from user Evolze, 07/31/2019So much easier for the casual flyer! It’s now a lot easier to tell whether I’m in controlled airspace or not when trying to fly my drone. Don’t want to break any rules! You can also get easy LAANC authorizations through Kittyhawk if you need to fly near an airport (even as a hobbyist or recreational user). Way to go, Kittyhawk!!!
- Review from user KTDrones, 07/31/2019
By improving the B4UFLY app’s ease of use and overall user experience, Kittyhawk is ensuring a future of public safety and successful integration of recreational drones into the National Airspace.
If you’re a recreational drone flier, download B4UFLY on iOS and Android. Kittyhawk also developed the Dynamic Airspace app for commercial drone operators — check out our Q&A with the Kittyhawk team on how they built it.
