With the rapid expansion in the number of Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs) available and the development of modern technologies, the commercial applications of UAVs in urban areas, such as urban remote sensing (RS), express services, urban road traffic monitoring, urban police security, urban air shows and so on, have increased greatly. However, most UAVs, especially light and small civil UAVs, have been operating in low-altitude airspace, and a conflict may exist between increasing the number of UAVs and the limited low airspace. To promote low-altitude airspace resource development and to standardize the operation and management of UAVs in urban regions, some global laws and regulations and key technologies for urban low-altitude applications of UAVs have been implemented. This paper reviews the development of current policies and key technologies concerning safe and efficient operations of the light-and-small civil UAVs in low altitude in urban areas. Discussions are made progressively on measures and methods of airspace restriction, airspace structuring and air route planning in China primarily and the rest of world. After surveying the practical industry tests and the initial studies of air routes, the survey results indicate that the construction of air route networks is a scientific and effective measure to standardize and improve the efficiency of low-altitude UAV operations. From the view point of safety and efficiency, the most valuable direction for UAV regulation in urban regions involves deepening the research which largely relies on urban RS and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, and application demonstrations of low-altitude public air route networks.
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