How Pilots Built LayerDrone in 2025

LayerDrone may have been founded in 2025, but the pilots building it have been connected for much longer. This network is now a large, highly engaged group of operators mapping millions of acres and helping scale on-demand aerial data across North America.

We’ve already written about what LayerDrone achieved in 2025. Our founding core contributor, Spexi, drafted their own 2025 year in review as well.

Now here’s everything LayerDrone pilots contributed this year. 

Pilots by the Numbers in 2025

Whenever a pilot flies a mission for the LayerDrone network, even before LayerDrone was founded, they were awarded Reputation Points (RP) for their contribution. Here’s everything RP tells us about pilots and how they’ve helped build LayerDrone in 2025. 

• +307% network coverage (a 4x increase)
• 3M+ acres mapped in 2025 alone (5.5M acres mapped total)
• ~180k+ successful missions completed
• 4M+ RP awarded
• Average ~20 missions per pilot

These milestones reflect not just growth in scale, but sustained participation from pilots who continue to show up mission after mission.

Pilot Growth Grows the Network

The pilot network has expanded rapidly alongside the LayerDrone protocol

• +900% registered pilots since 2024 (now 8000+, was >800)
• +112% increase in active pilot count since LayerDrone’s founding in April

Roughly half of all RP growth in 2025 came from new pilots entering the network, while long-tenured pilots continued to earn steadily, averaging ~285 RP per pilot over the year.

Pilot growth feeds into network growth, which is why Spexi announced the largest expansion in network history via their Open Capture campaign.

Experienced Pilots Lead the Network

While new pilots now make up over half of the network by count, legacy pilots (onboarded by May) still account for:

• ~92% of total RP and completed missions

This highlights the importance of experience, reliability, and consistency—and sets a clear path for newer pilots as they ramp up. It also showcases why Spexi launched an RP-only campaign as a way for newer pilots to get onboarded to the network faster. 

Pilots by Region

LayerDrone’s pilot community is currently rooted in North America, but the network is starting to spread elsewhere:

• United States: ~61% of pilots, ~53% of total RP
• Canada: ~38% of pilots, ~46% of total RP
• Other regions: ~1% (we see you 👀)

Looking Ahead

With millions of acres mapped, a rapidly expanding pilot base, and increased engagement accompanying pilot retention, 2025 proved that LayerDrone’s model works at scale. As mission types evolve and incentives continue to improve, the pilot community is well positioned for an even bigger year ahead. 

Pilots interested in building their reputation on the network should participate in the Spexi’s Open Capture campaign, which awards 10x the normal RP per mission.

To every pilot who flew, mapped, joined a call, or helped another pilot succeed: thank you for building LayerDrone with us.

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