See the island as never before in a series of 360 degree images taken by drone.

They are the work of Onchan resident Craig Goffin who spends hundreds of hours carefully planning flights - or ’missions’ as he calls them - hiking (with girl friend Rebecca Jones) to remote spots and flying the drone and then ’stitching’ the images together to form complete views.

It is a labour of love for Craig, who works in IT at Argon.

His enthusiasm was fired by the response from people on and off island.

’The world wide following is astonishing,’ he said.

’Many people are from Australia, New Zealand, the US.’

He uploads images onto his Facebook page ’Isle of Man by drone’ which has 8,900 followers.

’Eighty per cent of people from the island say: "I never knew that existed". From a height can see things you’d never see on the ground like foundations of old buildings, the grass grows differently, if walking you would not have any idea it was there. It’s interesting when looking at ancient burial sites and historic areas.’

This unique perspective has been gained thanks to his use of Hangar 360, a flight control application for drones allowing the capture of 360 images.

Between March 2017 and March 2018, more than 50,000 360 photos were captured using the application on six continents.

Over eight months, Craig took more than 580 photos using the 360 application.

His high use drew the US software developers’ attention to him and they asked him to test Hangar On-Demand, facilitating future 360 photos, viewing, downloading, and sharing of previously taken 360 photos, compiled into a geo-referenced accurate digital world map.

Previously he used coloured pins on a map to plot past and planned ’missions’, blue pins for completed, white for future flights, and green pins for the tholtans. The TT course is lined with red pins and the no fly zone around the airport is in yellow and red. His use pushes the island into the vanguard of drone technology.

’This is the first time it has been used in the British Isles, and potentially in Europe,’ he said.

’They have been using it for a bit in US. I’m quite protective, it’s my niche. I have made the Isle of Man mine!’

There’s plenty more to capture said Craig, who moved here two years ago, drawn by the island’s natural beauty and lifestyle.

He wants to become a qualified drone operator, giving him potential access to currently restricted areas.

’A lot comes down to the imagination,’ he said.

’I study Google maps, we go out walking and take the drone with us, even on a motorcycle. We won’t be stopping soon.’

The only limitation is the weather.

’You are in the hands of the gods. If it was not raining one day it would tease me by being windy.

’It will fly in 30mph. If it loses connection it will come back home, you have a fail safe, but if it loses GPS it will go off in the wind direction.’