If you were thinking of using a drone to document your travel to cities like Stockholm or Gothenburg, you will be disappointed to learn Sweden has now stopped your thumbs in their figurative tracks.

The country's Supreme Administrative Court has effectively banned personal drone filming, unless deemed to be for the purpose of "surveillance".

This means unless drone flyers are wishing to document crime or prevent accidents they will most likely be knocked back for the required permit.

However the court held that dashcams, on bicycle or motorbike handlebars, do not require a permit as they are operated by the rider "on the spot".

This is opposed to a drone which is not "controlled locally".

The new ruling does not provide any exemptions for commercial use or journalism.

Unsurprisingly the drone industry is outraged by the decision, with the leading drone body in Sweden, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), planning to take a stand against the ruling.

"We have set up a plan to forcibly try and get policymakers to realise how wrong this ruling [is] and [how it] strikes against an entire industry that employs thousands of employees."

Many claim the laws are illogical as it is still legal for Swedes to capture images in public, they just cannot use a quadcopter to do so.

Last month the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) loosened the regulations around operating drones that weigh less than two kilograms.

Under the new legislation, small commercial drone operators do not have to pay the current $1,400 in regulatory fees and landholders could operate drones of up to 25 kilograms on their properties without the need for approvals.