Ground-sensitive trajectory generation for UAVs

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable, wherein, for a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data comprises one or more land-use indications that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area;

for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas: applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area;

determining, using a computer-based flight planner, a flight plan for a particular UAV based on the determined societal-consideration costs for the one or more of the plurality of geographic areas; and

providing instructions to a control system that cause the control system to control the particular UAV in accordance with the determined flight plan.

2. The method of claim 1 :

wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a plurality of predetermined weights corresponding to different types of land use; and

wherein applying the cost function to determine the societal-consideration cost comprises applying a predetermined weight corresponding to the type of land use to each of the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine the societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the corresponding predetermined weight applied to at least one of the one or more land-use indications varies based on the time of day.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a land-use indication that is indicative of at least one geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas having a permanent or temporary population density that is greater than a population threshold.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one geographic area comprises a location of a temporary public gathering, and wherein the societal-consideration data comprises data received from an event planning database regarding the temporary public gathering.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a land-use indication that is indicative of personal preferences for land use in at least one geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the personal preferences for land use comprise user-provided data indicating a request for UAV travel to be constrained for the at least one geographic area.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the user-provided data is received from a UAV travel-feedback database, wherein the UAV travel-feedback database stores a plurality of user-provided data indicating personal preferences for land use.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the societal-consideration data comprises semantic data collected from a web mapping service application regarding a plurality of locations where UAV travel should be constrained based on a type of land use at the location, wherein the semantic data for a given location of the plurality of locations identifies the type of land use at the location.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight plan for the particular UAV is further determined based on a predetermined importance measure of the flight plan, wherein the predetermined importance measure is indicative of an acceptable amount of societal-consideration costs to be incurred during flight of the particular UAV.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight plan for the particular UAV is a flight plan that minimizes the societal-consideration costs incurred due to UAV flight.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight plan for the particular UAV indicates, for each of one or more segments of the flight plan, a minimum distance from obstacles for the UAV to maintain during the segment based on a societal-consideration cost for a geographic area that the UAV is configured to travel over during the segment.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions that are executable to cause a computing device to perform functions comprising:

receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable, wherein, for a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data comprises one or more land-use indications that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area;

for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas: applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area;

determining a flight plan for a particular UAV based on the determined societal-consideration costs for the one or more of the plurality of geographic areas; and

sending instructions to a control system that cause the control system to control the particular UAV in accordance with the determined flight plan.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 :

wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a plurality of predetermined weights corresponding to different types of land use; and

wherein applying the cost function to determine the societal-consideration cost comprises applying a predetermined weight corresponding to the type of land use to each of the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine the societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a land-use indication that is indicative of at least one geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas having a permanent or temporary population density that is greater than a population threshold.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the determined flight plan minimizes the societal-consideration costs incurred due to UAV flight.

17. A computing device, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions that are executable to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

receiving societal-consideration data for a plurality of geographic areas over which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployable, wherein, for a given geographic area from the plurality of geographic areas, the societal-consideration data comprises one or more land-use indications that are indicative of a type of land use in the geographic area;

for each of one or more of the plurality of geographic areas: applying a cost function to the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine a societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area;

determining a flight plan for a particular UAV based on the determined societal-consideration costs for the one or more of the plurality of geographic areas; and

sending instructions to a control system that cause the control system to control the particular UAV in accordance with the determined flight plan.

18. The computing device of claim 17 :

wherein the societal-consideration data further comprises a plurality of predetermined weights corresponding to different types of land use; and

wherein applying the cost function to determine the societal-consideration cost comprises applying a corresponding predetermined weight to each of the one or more land-use indications for the geographic area to determine the societal-consideration cost of UAV flight over the geographic area.

19. The computing device of claim 17 , wherein the determined flight plan minimizes the societal-consideration costs incurred due to UAV flight.