I heard regular people can just buy, and then remotely pilot, small flying robots with exquisite cameras. I figure these things have to have some utility in the mapping realm, so I got the cheapest one I could find that might get me going on making some basic maps.
Why?
- FOMO
- It’s a challenge
- Drone shots for video
- Surveying as a soft retirement
- There are others like me
Why not?
- It hasn’t been asked of me (since 2001)
- Expense
- Requires reaching out for help
Goals
- It hasn’t been asked of me (since 2001)
- Expense
- Requires reaching out for help
- Share my process with you
- Learn how to fly it
- Make a rough imagery surface
- Make a precise imagery surface with control points
- Photogrammetry
- Make friends
- Cool boots
We’ll figure it out together. Thanks for jumping in on the adventure! Love, John
John:
Interestingly I got interested and am now working on a GIS/GPS certificate from Utah State by doing what you are doing, but in reverse. I do avian surveys and was interested in seeing how I could cover more territory in the Utah desert by using a drone to map large areas and looking for nesting sites (to be clear, after migration and under proper ethical use standards). I have a DJI Mini-pro 4. A similarly small consumer drone. The issues I’ve run into are that (1) the flight time is very limited and (2) the ability of the drone to collect sufficient images is also very limited and (3) without some ability to use control points the data collected has limited use. I’ve taken actual measurements from test flights and find a 20-30′ discrepancy – not great. So, my efforts to collect data have been pretty limited, but have been a good proof of concept and may result in me upgrading to an “enterprise” level unit at some point.
You are way ahead of me on the mapping side of things, so this may be way too basic, but I’ve found the following app helpful in creating flight plans: https://www.waypointmap.com/
Question for you, what do you think about ESRI’s drone suite? ArcGIS Flight? And then ArcGIS Drone2Map? The ArcGIS Reality suite?? Looks like some of this is all designed to work with larger more commercial drones? Maybe too early to ask these questions.
Anyway – flying drones is super duper fun! Even if all you do is take photos. The cameras on these things are amazing!
Thanks for all your cool mapping videos. Most are way beyond me now, but love the graphics and its fun trying to make cool stuff!
Best – Leslie