Blogs

Mapping a Larger Area

Posted by Jeff Taylor on August 13, 2012 at 11:50am

3689473268?profile=original

I got a chance to make a larger map with the E382 a few weeks ago and I ran it through Agisoft Photoscan for the postprocessing.

 

Platform: E382

Camera: SX230 HS with CHDK

Mapping Time: 30 minutes

Flight Time: 33-34 minutes

Images used: 341

Processing Time: ~12 hours of computer time, <30 minutes operator time

Area covered: 350 acres, 1.41km2  –  1550 x 910m rectangle

Area measured with QGIS

3689473281?profile=original

3d DEM viewed in GlobalMapper

3689473182?profile=original

Always have to try out the global warming tool

3689473350?profile=original

The only tips I have for those mapping larger areas is to first of all make sure you're spacing your flight lines appropriately based on your altitude. You can find good data on how much ground area is covered per image from Krzysztof Bosak's ebook The Secrets of Aerial PhotoMapping. Be sure to run through the images once before you process them and remove the blurry ones. Also make sure you're taking plenty of pictures so that removing the blurry ones doesn't leave any gaps in coverage.

Tags: 38, e382, event, event38, geotagged, globalmapper, mapping, qgis, surveying
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Jeff Taylor September 3, 2014 at 12:02pm
    Yes this was all done with on camera GPS. There is no issue between CHDK and camera GPS, but you won't be able to get 1 second between pictures. 2 seconds is the fastest we've gotten, but GPS shouldn't be a limiting factor in any case.
  • Jeff Taylor September 3, 2014 at 12:02pm
    Yes this was all done with on camera GPS. There is no issue between CHDK and camera GPS, but you won't be able to get 1 second between pictures. 2 seconds is the fastest we've gotten, but GPS shouldn't be a limiting factor in any case.
  • Daniel Perez September 1, 2014 at 6:46am

    Hi Jeff, did you georefference this image just using the camera GPS or did you use another tool, is there any issue between CHDK and the camera GPS with a very short time between pictures like one second between each image?

    thanks for your time and excellent job!!

  • Jeff Taylor August 14, 2012 at 11:21am

    I see.. I guess I can't help you there. But there should be lots of examples of APM's line keeping talent posted around here somewhere.. works well enough for me for mapping which certainly requires some level of line-keeping.

  • Mike August 14, 2012 at 11:15am

    Just how tight you were getting on the lines really - always good to see how autopilots perform in line-keeping...

  • Jeff Taylor August 14, 2012 at 10:00am

    Haha yes exactly right Dries!

    Unfortunately I think I've lost the flight log amongst the hundreds of files in my logs folder.. is there anything specific you were looking to see?

  • Mike August 14, 2012 at 8:30am

    Jeff, be nice to see a plot of the flightplan and the flightpath actually flown,

    Mike

  • Dries Raymaekers August 14, 2012 at 5:51am

    Nice mapping work Jef! What is this global warming tool?? Someway to see if your feet will get wet from global sea level rising?

  • Jeff Taylor August 13, 2012 at 1:59pm

    Thanks! Make sure you set up the OpenGL in the settings so it uses your video card. My version is a trial too but I requested a trial license which gives you the full version for 30 days & allows you to save and everything.

    Could also be that the mac version isn't as well ironed out.

  • 3D Robotics
    Alan Sanchez August 13, 2012 at 1:23pm

    Looks awesome man! Ill need to cut a hole in the bottom of my skywalker soon. I ran some pics through Agisoft a couple weeks ago on OSX and it was hell, it made my display blink while it was processing and even after when I was just viewing the point cloud (trial doesnt let you see a solid). Maybe its an issue with the Mac version? It was using something like 230% processor. 

    Keep it up!

This reply was deleted.