Unlocking the Secrets of 3D Imaging from Aircraft and Drones

Are you looking to capture aerial photographs or create a photogrammetric project without having to rent a plane or buy expensive aerial photographs? UAS-based photogrammetry is the perfect solution for larger landscapes and objects that are difficult to capture from the ground. With lightweight drone LIDAR systems, you can cover everything the drone allows per flight with absolute accuracy limits of about 10 cm (4 inches) horizontally and 5 cm (2 inches) vertically. Before drones, aerial surveys were often conducted with manned aircraft, which could be costly and logistically complex. Now, with the help of drones, you can capture images with the DJI Ground Station software and process them with Agisoft PhotoScan.

All aerial images and geolocation information are stored on a single SD card and can be inspected in the field on the WingtraPilot tablet to check their quality early. The process of using a drone or aircraft to produce aerial photographs, which can be converted into a 3D model or digitally mapped, is known as photogrammetry. To create a 3D map of a landmass from aerial photographs, a camera is mounted on a drone or airplane and usually points vertically towards the ground. Photogrammetry software can generate massive files, depending on the number of images and the resolution of the images.

By utilizing photogrammetry software to join images with drones and also with LIDAR mapping, there are several products that can be extracted from aerial images. In the past, aerial surveys were often conducted with manned aircraft, which could only achieve precisions ranging from meters to decimeters. With modern technology such as Autodesk ReCap Photo, you can now process drone photographs into 2D and 3D data. GS Pro significantly increases the efficiency of various industrial applications, including but not limited to aerial imaging, architecture, precision agriculture, electrical inspections, search and rescue, security monitoring and more.

In addition to 3D mapping software, there are also providers that are creating complete aerial mapping solutions, including the drone, mapping software and even training. These images are superimposed so that the same point on the ground is visible in several photos and from different points of view. It is used to capture high-resolution aerial photographs and then transform them into accurate orthomosaics (maps) and 3D models.