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Mapping App, what are you using? Costs?

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Howdy Flyers from Texas... I did a recent job just over 5 acres and used the app datamapper, it was really easy to use but lacks a lot of features. Im using a MP2 no access to a P4 of N7 Attachment yet... I think DroneDeploy was 99 a month but billed all at once for the year! Yikes, I haven't gotten any 3Dmapping or other shoots yet but just started biz this month, wanted to prepare...

Whats the best to you use to cover all angles, except thermal right now? Is it worth it to spend that kind of money of an app like DroneDeploy, is that about avg price wise for mapping apps?

Thanks guys didn't want to deposit that kind of coin without some feedback! no Bueno!
 
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First, be careful with what you are providing, or what you intend to provide or market to a customer. Check your state's regs on what constitutes "Professional Land Surveying" and what can be (or cannot be) provided to a client. Do not use the word "survey" in any of your adverts. Second, there are credit-based processing services out there such as UAV and Drone Mapping Software - WebODM Lightning and Maps Made Easy - Home that would probably be better for your situation. Third, without proper ground control points for horizontal and vertical control the functionality/usefulness of 3d models is limited, and they really never look good anyway. Orthographic photos are more useful, but again, ground control is key. If you provide anything to a customer that includes a measurement, such as a contour map, you might get yourself in trouble.
 
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Thank you I know the verbiage can be touchy with government agencies. Anyone have more info on Texas, Bexar County? Ill look into it ASAP before any future endeavours.

As for NDVI, I know it takes some moola and equipment... With licensing issues aside. Is this a popular format or a needed addition if I choose to go down this route. I appreciate you time on posting a response. TY.
 
Thank you I know the verbiage can be touchy with government agencies. Anyone have more info on Texas, Bexar County? Ill look into it ASAP before any future endeavours.

As for NDVI, I know it takes some moola and equipment... With licensing issues aside. Is this a popular format or a needed addition if I choose to go down this route. I appreciate you time on posting a response. TY.
 
I make maps with measurements just for natural resource management projects, which do not require professional surveyors licensing, but for land surveys, you may want to consider partnering with a professional land surveyor if you are getting work to produce maps with legal survey points or measurements... it will cost you out of many smaller jobs, but may open new doors for your business as well.
 
I make maps with measurements just for natural resource management projects, which do not require professional surveyors licensing, but for land surveys, you may want to consider partnering with a professional land surveyor if you are getting work to produce maps with legal survey points or measurements... it will cost you out of many smaller jobs, but may open new doors for your business as well.
There is an exemption from the licensing requirement in CA for "geologic or landscaping" purposes so I'd assume that includes your NRM projects. Other states may vary, but the legal definition of Land Surveying will be about the same. Land Surveyors will be hesitant to partner with or employ the services of someone without Land Surveying qualifications - and UAVs are cheap now (essentially paying for themselves in one or two flights), any company of size will already be using them.
 
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There is an exemption from the licensing requirement in CA for "geologic or landscaping" purposes so I'd assume that includes your NRM projects. Other states may vary, but the legal definition of Land Surveying will be about the same. Land Surveyors will be hesitant to partner with or employ the services of someone without Land Surveying qualifications - and UAVs are cheap now (essentially paying for themselves in one or two flights), any company of size will already be using them.

You are right, and that exemption seems to be nation wide in the resource management industry. A lot of the natural resource management maps I’ve made are wildlife habitat, wetlands delineations, and environmental monitoring related. My wife also makes maps related to cultural resource management (archaeology). We’ve both have done these for clients such as BLM, Forest Service, State government agencies and private companies. Environmental consulting is a wide field that uses many different types of mapping tools, including aerial images, GIS, remote sensing and using drones.

If someone really wants to get into it, they should have a good understanding of the available software, including GIS (geographic information systems) and some basic understanding of land survey techniques and application. A science or engineering based degree (AA on up) is mostly required in the industry as well. Its a fun and interesting field to get into.
 
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I've mapped over 2000 acres. I use drone deploy for free to create the waypoints for the UAS, their UI is great. Then I use metascan to create the orthomosaic. Next, QGIS has a bunch of tools to fine tune the accuracy and once it's all perfect I use gdal2tiles to make it mobile/cloud friendly.
 
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I was talking to a state guy and he kept explaining to me that the GPS points needed to be more accurate. They use a Bad Elf gps device to do waypoints, but they have never flown a drone and I am not sure how/if you would be able to correlate the gps fixes.

They were saying they would place a marker (large orange spot) in the middle of the area they were going to map, not the gps coordinate, and then one at each 4 corners and do the same.... not sure if there is even a way to get the drone to alter it's coordinates if it was different than the orange dot.. heh.. but, eh..

Made me nervous to even try to help do any drone work :p

R
 
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I was talking to a state guy and he kept explaining to me that the GPS points needed to be more accurate. They use a Bad Elf gps device to do waypoints, but they have never flown a drone and I am not sure how/if you would be able to correlate the gps fixes.

They were saying they would place a marker (large orange spot) in the middle of the area they were going to map, not the gps coordinate, and then one at each 4 corners and do the same.... not sure if there is even a way to get the drone to alter it's coordinates if it was different than the orange dot.. heh.. but, eh..

Made me nervous to even try to help do any drone work :p

R

If the drone is outfitted with a survey grade GPS you could use the photos to do mapping, but Mavics are not survey grade. The alternative is to use ground control points with surveyed in GPS positions as the guy explained for the drone pice, then the mapping program uses these to fix the GPS positions of the drone photos.
 
If the drone is outfitted with a survey grade GPS you could use the photos to do mapping, but Mavics are not survey grade. The alternative is to use ground control points with surveyed in GPS positions as the guy explained for the drone pice, then the mapping program uses these to fix the GPS positions of the drone photos.

Is there an easy way or maybe a video that describes the process to fix the gps points, etc? Not "fix" but how to use a mavic to get good mapping and a gps device to get it more accurate.

None of the folks I am talking to have any hours flying drones, so they are not very good at explaining to me what it is they want. If I could understand the process for doing this with a Mavic better, I could explain it to them more and then help them get a process for it.

Thank you btw.

R
 
None of the folks I am talking to have any hours flying drones, so they are not very good at explaining to me what it is they want. If I could understand the process for doing this with a Mavic better, I could explain it to them more and then help them get a process for it.
You can use the mavic to produce maps that are pretty good in 2D without ground control points (GCP) (not survey accurate but still fairly good).
But the altitude will be only relative to your launch point if you wanted to generate contours.
By using surveyed GCPs you can get greater accuracy and tie the aititude into your local datum rather than relative to launch point.
Dronedeploy have an introduction video that might help:
 
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You can use the mavic to produce maps that are pretty good in 2D without ground control points (GCP) (not survey accurate but still fairly good).
But the altitude will be only relative to your launch point if you wanted to generate contours.
By using surveyed GCPs you can get greater accuracy and tie the aititude into your local datum rather than relative to launch point.
Dronedeploy have an introduction video that might help:


I have used Dronedeploy a lot, just did not know it was not accurate enough. Gotta come up with a survey-able method. If I buy a Bad GPS device, will the DroneDeploy video show me how to use that to tie in the GPS coordinates etc, or am I, essentially, looking at what they mentioned (my work)...

1 - lay down an orange dot in the center of the area, mark the gps coordinates of the bad elf
2 - lay down 4 corners, mark the gps coordinates
3 - fly the dronedeploy map
4 - update whatever software with the gps coordinates of those particular spots

I am assuming I simply take the photos in dronedeploy that are right over the top of those spots, mark the gps coordinates of those 5 photos, including the altitude, and it will automatically update the rest of the photos.

That is how it is sounding like, in my head.. heh... but my head can and is wrong a lot :p

Thank you by the way. Still trying to find a cheaper way to do some of the imagery crunching myself. Me, don't care... just do this for fun... but it is / would be nice to have at least a 2d picture stitched together....just not worth the fees the places charge for a person like me that is just doing this for fun. I have a hoss of a PC and TBs of NAS drive space.....just not worth hundreds of dollars or more to get software.. heh

R
 
I have used Dronedeploy a lot, just did not know it was not accurate enough. Gotta come up with a survey-able method. If I buy a Bad GPS device, will the DroneDeploy video show me how to use that to tie in the GPS coordinates etc, or am I, essentially, looking at what they mentioned (my work)...
Whether DD is accurate enough depends on what you want to use it for.
It's quite accurate and easily good enough for many purposes.
What kind of use are you needing it for?

If you need to use GCPs and a survey grade GPS for what you want to achieve, that can be done with DD but the process requires some expertise and practice.
I am assuming I simply take the photos in dronedeploy that are right over the top of those spots, mark the gps coordinates of those 5 photos, including the altitude, and it will automatically update the rest of the photos.
Here's a very short summary of the process.
You place the GCP markers in suitable locations
You survey the marker locations exactly
You fly the survey and the markers should show in multiple individual images
You have to include the marker location data in the map creation process.

I haven't had DD create maps for me to know how they handle the GCP data.
I've done that part of the process myself.
If you were going to use a Bad Elf device, you'd need this one:
It's their model with highest accuracy but it's still not really survey grade.
Something like this would be better:

Still trying to find a cheaper way to do some of the imagery crunching myself. Me, don't care... just do this for fun... but it is / would be nice to have at least a 2d picture stitched together.
There are alternatives to having DD do the processing.
I've read of some in the forums but can't remember what they are.
 
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