What is the DID district? Introducing the latest information on how to check and drone flight!

Aeronautical laws are always involved when flying drones outside. The Civil Aeronautics Act is a law that protects the safety of the entire sky, and restricts the airspace where drones are prohibited from flying and the method of flight that poses risks.

This time, we will take up the DID area (populated area) from the airspace prohibited from flying (A) to (D) in the image below.

Let's keep it in mind before we make our drone debut!

(Image source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism HP https://www.mlit.go.jp/koku/koku_fr10_000041.html#kuuiki)

Index

What is a DID district

What is a DID district in the first place?

DID is an acronym for Densely Inhabited Districts, which literally means "districts where people live densely". To put it simply, places with a lot of people are designated as DID districts.

Although it is written as a DID district here, it is also called a densely populated district.

Determining a DID area

You may have a vague idea that a DID area is a place with many people, but there are strict criteria for DID areas.

Originally, the DID district was a new statistical area unit that clarified the characteristics of the urban area. It is an item set from the national census in 1960.

A DID area is defined as an area where there are adjacent areas with a population of 4,000 or more per 1㎢, and where the total population of these close areas exceeds 5,000. (Source: Saitama Prefecture HP https://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/a0206/toukeifaq/q3-1.html)

The word census was mentioned earlier, but DID districts are calculated based on the results of the census. Therefore, the data will be updated once every five years when the national census is conducted.

Recently, the census was conducted around the end of 2020. I hope everyone reading this has answered your question. The latest DID districts based on the results of the end of 2020 census will be announced on March 25, 2022. (Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Statistics Bureau HP https://www.stat.go.jp/data/kokusei/2020/kekka.html)

It doesn't mean that it will be reflected immediately after the survey.

Where can I see the DID district?

You can check the DID area on the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan map. How to get to the map link is explained in the image below.

(Image citation: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism HP https://www.mlit.go.jp/ , Geospatial Information Authority of Japan - Geospatial Information Authority of Japan map https://maps.gsi.go.jp/ )

The web page "Flight Rules for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones, Radio Controlled Aircraft, etc.)", which is also shown in the image, has almost all the information you need to fly a drone! Please bookmark it and check it regularly.

Things to note about the DID area

Watch out for data update timing!

Be sure to check the DID area every time you fly your drone.

As mentioned in ”1.2 How to determine DID districts”, the data for the areas corresponding to DID districts is updated once every five years. Since the data update period is long, there are many people who think that once they know that the location they are trying to fly is not in the DID area, there will be no problem if the location remains the same.

However, the population will increase and decrease for various reasons because it is a long period of 5 years. For example, recently, the population of Tokyo has been declining within the metropolitan wards and increasing in urban areas.

So it's not uncommon for the next update to end up in DID districts where there were no problems before. Advance preparation will also improve the quality of your flight, so be sure to check every time before flying, even if it's a familiar place!

Can I fly if I'm not in the DID area? Is private land okay in the DID area? Answers to questions that everyone thinks!

Question 1. Can I fly if I am not in the DID area?

It cannot be said that you can fly anywhere that is not in the DID area. This is because when you fly a drone, you have to consider not only aviation laws but also various laws.

Of course, the most important thing to fly a drone is aviation law. Many people think that they can fly drones if they can clear the aviation law because they have the most presence.

The first image on this site also states that airspace other than A to D is flyable.

However, it's just that you can fly without any procedures under aviation law.

There are many other laws that affect flying. For example, if you are near a nuclear power plant, there are other restrictions such as the law prohibiting the flight of small unmanned aerial vehicles, ordinances of each prefecture. I can't say for sure that it's okay to fly.

Question 2.Is it okay to use private land in the DID area?

In short, you can't fly. Even if it's privately owned, it's still a DID area, so you'll need a permit to fly.

I want to fly even in the DID area! What is that method?

Most of Tokyo's wards are DID districts, but just because they're DID districts doesn't mean you can't fly drones. Here are two ways to fly drones in the DID area!

Method 1. Treat the DID area as an indoor area and fly.

The Civil Aeronautics Act is only for outdoor flights. Therefore, it is possible to fly indoors even in the DID area. (This means that flight training grounds in the Tokyo metropolitan area can be operated because they are indoors.)

To put it simply, if you surround the drone in 5 directions (front, back, left, right, top) with a net to prevent it from jumping out, the inside will be treated as indoors. (The point is that the drone does not fly out.)

For example, let's say you have a space surrounded by a net in 5 directions in a part of a large parking lot outside. It's a net, so of course the wind comes in, and it's an environment that's almost the same as outside. However, if the drone does not deviate from the space, it can fly like an outdoor without being bound by the law.

Using this kind of thinking, there are places such as golf driving ranges that are renting out as drone practice ranges.

Method 2. Submit a flight permit application to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Submit a permit application to the Ministry. If it violates the Civil Aeronautics Act, you may be able to fly by submitting a permission approval application.

However, violating the Aviation Act means that the risk is that much greater. There are several requirements to submit your application.

I will create a separate article about applying for permission approval, so please wait!

Editor's Note

How was it? Drones are evolving rapidly, and laws and regulations are also changing rapidly. Therefore, pilots themselves must actively obtain information.

Let's use drones while observing manners and rules, and liven up the drone area even more!

Viva! Drone Editorial Department

"VIVA! DRONE" is a technology media with 2 million PV per month that distributes the latest drone information and the latest gadget information. We create and distribute articles and videos with the aim of being a "comprehensive technology information site that is fun to read and useful to know."

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