How Drone Mapping Works

Drone mapping, also known as UAV photogrammetry, is the process of capturing aerial imagery using unmanned aerial vehicles and processing it into accurate geospatial products such as orthomosaics, digital surface models and 3D reconstructions.

The workflow begins with flight planning. We define the survey area, set the required ground sampling distance (GSD), and plan flight lines with appropriate overlap, typically 75% forward and 65% side overlap for photogrammetry.

During the flight, the drone captures hundreds or thousands of geotagged images. Ground control points (GCPs) are established and surveyed with GNSS to ensure georeferencing accuracy.

In post-processing, photogrammetry software aligns the images, identifies tie points and generates a dense point cloud. This point cloud is then used to create digital surface models, 3D mesh models and orthomosaics.

The final files (orthomosaics, DSMs, DTMs, contour maps and volumetric calculations) are current and ready for GIS, CAD or analysis software.