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The youngest drone cartographer is just 14 years old

Guinness World Records holder Nathan Lu is the youngest drone cartographer at just 14 years old, taking photos with his original DJI Mavic Air. The young drone flier began taking aerial photos of his neighborhood from age 11 and posted his first image on the Soar mapping platform at 14.

Lu takes photos of his neighborhood in Long Beach, California, using drones. In April of last year, Lu found the decentralized mapping platform, Soar, and uploaded his first aerial image, making him the youngest drone cartographer at just 14 years and 202 days old.

Aerial cartography is the creation of maps by geotagging points of interest to help others looking for specific information. The aerial part, in this case, is the use of a drone to capture the images that are used in the map creation.

The first image he uploaded to the platform was of a soccer field in Rossmoor, California, taken from 373.4 feet (113.8 meters) up with his DJI Mavic Air. You can view the first image he uploaded below. Lu currently has 1,048 images on the platform.

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Lu wanted to share that you don’t need the best equipment or the best drone to start mapping. He also said that if you are interested in it, just get out there and give it a go. Lu said he checks DJI AirSense before taking off each time.

Lu shared the following after he saved up enough money to purchase his DJI Mavic Air drone:

I have discovered that California is such a diverse place with so much to discover. I want to discover the earth with my drone and see it from a new vibrant angle. Just something as simple as taking aerial photos of my house has made me appreciate how special drones are.

Photo: Guinness World Records

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Avatar for Joshua Spires Joshua Spires

Josh started in the drone community in 2012 with a drone news Twitter account. Over the years Josh has gained mass exposure from his aerial photography work and spends his days writing drone content for DroneDJ as well as pursuing his business.