Terms of use

The short version

Swathwise helps you plan a drone survey. It gives you estimates and flight route files. It does not fly the aircraft, check the airspace or know what stands on the ground, and it can be wrong. You are responsible for every flight you make and for checking everything Swathwise gives you before you rely on it.

This summary is here to help. It does not replace the terms below, which are the agreement.

1. Agreeing to these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and the seller named at the foot of this page ("Swathwise", "we", "us"). They cover this website, the Swathwise planner in a browser, the Swathwise desktop program, and every estimate, route file, document and other output they produce (together, "Swathwise").

By using Swathwise you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use it.

You must be at least 18 years old. If you use Swathwise for a company or other organization, you are agreeing on its behalf and you confirm you are allowed to.

2. What Swathwise is

Swathwise is planning software for drone surveys. From an area you draw or import and the aircraft, sensor and settings you choose, it estimates the size of the job, the time it takes to fly and the battery sets it needs. It can also write flight route files, with or without terrain built in, a flight plan document, flight path files and a field reference sheet.

Swathwise is early software. Features may change, break or be withdrawn, and it may be unavailable at times.

3. Estimates and drafts, not instructions

Everything Swathwise produces is a planning estimate or a draft. Figures are worked out from published aircraft and sensor specifications, published standards and the settings you choose. Wind, temperature, altitude, battery age and condition, terrain, the aircraft's own software and many other things change the real numbers. Flight times and battery counts can be wrong in either direction.

Terrain in a route is bare earth, and only where it is available. Swathwise can export a route with terrain follow switched on, using ground elevation from the U.S. Geological Survey at a resolution of roughly 30 metres. That data describes the ground and nothing on it: trees, buildings, towers, poles, wires and every other obstacle are not in it. It can be out of date or wrong, it smooths over sharp ridges and cuts, and it covers the United States only. Keeping the aircraft clear of everything on and above the ground is your responsibility.

A route exported without terrain - because you chose that, because there was no connection, or because no elevation data was available - holds its height above the takeoff point, not above the ground beneath the aircraft. Over rising ground that can put the aircraft lower than you intend, or into the ground or an obstacle. Swathwise tells you when a route has been exported without terrain; read what it tells you.

Check every route on the controller before it is flown, including that its height profile follows the ground where you expect it to. A route file is a draft until you have checked it.

The controller may lay out its own flight lines when it imports a route, so the lines flown can differ from the lines Swathwise drew.

Do not rely on Swathwise as your only source for any decision that affects safety.

4. You are responsible for the flight

The remote pilot in command is responsible for every flight. Swathwise does not check, and takes no responsibility for, any of the following. They are yours:

The law. The rules where you fly, including in the United States 14 CFR Part 107, registration, remote identification, pilot certification and any waiver or authorization you need.

The airspace. Airspace class, airspace authorization, temporary flight restrictions, notices to airmen, and other aircraft.

The site. Terrain, trees, wires, towers, buildings and every other obstacle; people, vehicles and animals on the ground; keeping the aircraft in sight; weather and wind.

Permission. The right to take off, land and fly over the land, including private land, public land and Tribal land, and the privacy of people you may overfly or record.

The aircraft. Its condition, maintenance, firmware, batteries, payload, settings and insurance.

Operating an unmanned aircraft carries a risk of injury, death and damage to property. You accept that risk.

5. Not surveying, engineering or legal advice

Swathwise cites published standards and manufacturer guides so you can see where a setting comes from. Citing a standard is not a promise that your data will meet it. Whether a survey meets a standard or a contract depends on the field work, ground control, processing and checking, none of which Swathwise does.

Swathwise is not a licensed surveyor or engineer and does not give professional, legal or regulatory advice. Many places require a licensed professional to certify certain survey products. Finding out what applies to your work, and meeting it, is your responsibility.

6. Your licence to use Swathwise

As long as you follow these terms, you may use Swathwise for your own work, including commercial work for your clients. This permission is personal to you or your organization, non-exclusive, and cannot be transferred or sublicensed. We can withdraw it as described in section 14.

You may not: resell, rent or sublicense Swathwise itself; get around sign-in, access limits or features that are paid for; copy, decompile or reverse engineer it except where the law gives you that right regardless of these terms; interfere with it or place an unreasonable load on it; remove notices from it; or use it to break the law.

Swathwise includes open-source software. Those parts are licensed to you under their own licences, which apply to them in place of this section.

Swathwise, its name, its mark and its content belong to us or to those who license them to us. Nothing in these terms transfers them to you.

7. Your work stays yours

The areas you draw or import, your projects and settings, and the files you export are yours. We claim no rights in them.

Your projects and saved maps are kept on your own computer, in your browser or in the desktop program's folders, not with us. We cannot see them and we cannot recover them if they are lost. Clearing your browser's data can delete them. Keep your own copies of anything that matters.

You are responsible for having the right to use any boundary or other material you import.

8. Maps and other outside services

To do its work Swathwise fetches map images, place-name search results and ground elevations from services run by others, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau, Esri, OpenStreetMap and Open-Meteo. We do not run those services. Their information can be wrong, out of date or unavailable, their own terms apply to it, and we are not responsible for it.

An image of the ground can be years old. Never treat a map as evidence that an area is clear of obstacles or people.

9. Accounts and access

Some copies of Swathwise need you to sign in, and access may be by invitation. Keep your sign-in secure and tell us if you think someone else has used it. You are responsible for what is done under your sign-in.

We may refuse, limit or end access to anyone at any time.

10. Paid plans

Swathwise does not charge for anything today. If paid plans are offered, the price, the billing period, taxes, renewal and cancellation terms and any refund terms will be shown to you before you pay, and will form part of these terms for that purchase.

11. No warranty

Swathwise is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied or statutory, including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement, and any warranty arising from a course of dealing or usage of trade.

We do not warrant that Swathwise is accurate, complete, reliable, free of errors, secure or available, that its estimates will match what happens in the field, that a route it writes is safe to fly, or that its output meets any standard, contract or legal requirement.

Some places do not allow some warranties to be disclaimed, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

12. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of or damage to an aircraft, sensor, payload or other equipment, loss of or damage to data, the cost of flying a job again, or loss of profits, revenue, business, contracts or goodwill, however caused and under any theory of liability, even if we have been told the loss was possible.

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for all claims connected with Swathwise or these terms is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for Swathwise in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, and (b) fifty U.S. dollars (US $50).

These limits apply to every kind of claim, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability or otherwise, and they apply even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. They are a basic part of the bargain between us: Swathwise could not be offered on these terms without them.

Some places do not allow some of these limits, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Claims that come from your use

To the fullest extent the law allows, you will defend us and pay for any claim, loss, damage, fine, cost or expense, including reasonable legal fees, that a third party brings against us arising from your flights or other operations, your use of Swathwise or its output, material you import, your breach of these terms, or your breaking of any law or of anyone's rights.

We may take over the defence of a claim at our own cost, and you will cooperate if we do.

14. Stopping and ending

You may stop using Swathwise at any time. We may suspend or end your access, or stop offering Swathwise altogether, at any time, with or without notice. If you have paid for a period that we cut short for a reason other than your breach, the terms shown when you paid will say what is refunded.

Sections 3 to 5, 7, 8 and 11 to 17 continue to apply after your use ends.

15. Trade marks and standards

DJI, Matrice, Mavic and Zenmuse are trade marks of their owner. Esri, ArcGIS, Google Earth and other names belong to their owners. Swathwise is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by DJI or any other company whose products or services it mentions or works with.

The standards and guides Swathwise cites belong to their publishers. A citation is not an endorsement by the publisher, and Swathwise does not reproduce those documents.

16. Law and disputes

If you have a problem with Swathwise, write to us first at the address at the foot of this page. Each of us will try in good faith to settle it for at least 30 days before starting any legal proceeding.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oregon, USA, without regard to its rules on conflicts of law. Any proceeding that is not settled informally must be brought in the state or federal courts located in Oregon, and each of us accepts the jurisdiction of those courts. If you are a consumer, this does not take away any protection the law of the place where you live gives you and that cannot be waived by agreement.

To the extent the law allows, any claim connected with Swathwise or these terms must be started within one year after the claim arose.

17. The rest

These terms, together with any terms shown to you when you buy a paid plan, are the whole agreement between us about Swathwise and replace anything said earlier.

If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, that part is to be changed as little as needed to make it enforceable, and the rest stays in force. If we do not enforce a term, we have not given it up.

You may not transfer these terms to anyone else without our written consent. We may transfer them, including to a company set up to run Swathwise. These terms give no rights to anyone other than you and us.

If you send us suggestions about Swathwise, we may use them without owing you anything.

18. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms as Swathwise changes. The date at the top says when they last changed. If a change is significant, we will say so on this website or in Swathwise before it takes effect. If you keep using Swathwise after a change takes effect, you accept the changed terms.

Who to write to

Swathwise is offered by River James, Oregon, USA.

Email: hello@swathwise.org