DroneSurvey Forum

Just wrapped up a massive boundary and topo project on a cattle ranch in Montana. 12,000 acres total, mapped over 5 days with a WingtraOne GEN II. Stats: - 47 individual flights - 28,000+ images - 2c

I've been researching state surveying laws as they relate to drone mapping. The patchwork of regulations is absurd. Some states (like Oregon) have explicitly said photogrammetric mapping by drone ope

We've been monitoring a slow-moving landslide in the Cascades for the past 6 months using monthly drone flights. The change detection data is fascinating. Setup: M350 RTK, L2 LiDAR, permanent GCPs on

Old surveyor trying to understand the drone world. I get that RTK is real-time corrections and PPK is post-processed. But when would you choose one over the other? My instinct says real-time is alway

Currently making $65k/year as a drone tech at a survey firm. Thinking about going independent. I have the Part 107, my own M3E, and a decent Pix4D workflow. Those of you who made the jump - what did

Just completed a really cool project: 3D documentation of a Native American cliff dwelling site for the National Park Service. Incredibly sensitive site that researchers can't walk on. Used an M3E fl

Completed what might be our largest single stockpile survey. Active aggregate quarry, 200 acres, 47 individual stockpiles ranging from 5,000 CY to 800,000 CY. Total computed volume: 6.2 million cubic

Getting conflicting information on this. I have my Part 107 and I'm doing photogrammetry for various clients. Some are asking for topographic maps with contours and spot elevations. A surveyor friend

Currently using Pix4Dmapper (perpetual license from a few years ago) but wondering if I should switch to cloud-based. My main work is construction topo, stockpiles, and the occasional boundary survey.

Our mining client wanted weekly volume reports but got tired of waiting for us to process and deliver. So we built them a dashboard. Drone flights auto-upload to DroneDeploy, processing kicks off aut

Just wrapped up a 14-month monitoring project for a utility-scale solar farm. Weekly flights from bare dirt to energized panels. Some interesting things we learned: - Grading tolerance monitoring cau

Had a client reject our deliverable because they wanted sub-centimeter accuracy on a parking lot design survey. Our checkpoints showed 2-3cm which I thought was excellent for photogrammetry. Is sub-c

I'm the old guy at my firm (40 years in) and management wants me to learn drone operations. Part of me thinks I should just retire and let the kids handle it. Other part doesn't want to become obsolet

Cool project where drone data actually changed the client's approach. Utility company thought they needed to clear 50 miles of ROW. We flew it with LiDAR and identified only 12 miles with actual encro

Struggling with pricing. Currently charging $500/day but I feel like that's too low for the deliverables I'm producing. Some competitors charge by the acre, others by deliverable type. What's the goi

Starting a new firm and need to pick a processing platform. I've used Pix4D at my previous employer but want to evaluate everything fresh. Primary deliverables: orthos, DSMs, contours, and stockpile

I'm one of maybe 3 women I've ever seen at a drone survey conference. It can feel pretty isolating sometimes. Are there any professional networks, meetups, or groups for women in UAS/surveying? I kno

6 months into my Part 107 and getting decent at photogrammetry. Currently working as a survey tech making $22/hr. Wondering what the realistic salary range is for someone who specializes in drone work

Getting conflicting info on this. Some people say RTK means you don't need any GCPs, others say you still need them. Just did my first RTK flight on a 40 acre site and didn't use any ground control. R

Seeing a lot of drone data come across my desk with coordinate system issues. Common problems: 1. Mixing NAD83 and WGS84 (they're NOT the same thing) 2. Wrong geoid model applied to elevations 3. Sta

Budget is tight and I'm looking at OpenDroneMap/WebODM as an alternative to Pix4D or DroneDeploy. I know it's free but how does the accuracy actually compare? Running on a decent workstation (Ryzen 9

I'm doing a lot of work for small developers and homebuilders who don't use CAD or GIS. They just want to understand their site. Currently sending them PDFs of the ortho with annotations but it feels

Every project seems to have different coordinate requirements. Client wants State Plane, drone outputs WGS84, control is on a local assumed system. Spending too much time on transformations. What's y

Our company just landed a federal contract and we need to transition off DJI for that work. Still keeping DJI for private sector but need something Blue UAS / NDAA compliant. Options I'm looking at:

Landing a construction monitoring contract - weekly flights over an 80-acre residential development. 18-month project. Looking for advice on: - Establishing permanent GCPs that won't get bulldozed -

The L2 payload has been out for a while now. At $8k for the sensor (plus M350 cost), it's the cheapest drone LiDAR option that's actually usable. Anyone doing serious survey work with it? How does po

Running a 3-person survey crew. We've been using an M3E for about 8 months and it handles 90% of our work just fine. But we're losing bids on larger sites because clients want RTK accuracy. The M350

Old surveyor here trying to figure out how drones fit into boundary work. I understand they're not replacing monuments and legal descriptions, but there's got to be value somewhere. How are you guys

I've been flying everything at 80% frontal / 80% side overlap since I started drone surveying. Recently read that 75/65 is sufficient for most work and would significantly reduce my flight times. Has

I have my Part 107 and some photogrammetry experience. Looking to differentiate myself in the market. There are tons of certificates and courses out there but most seem like cash grabs. Which certifi

Our DOT is finally approving budget for a fixed wing. We're mapping 50-100 mile highway corridors regularly and the M3E just can't keep up. Too many battery swaps, too many days in the field. Looking

Spending way too much time manually classifying point clouds in TerraSolid. Ground, vegetation, buildings, noise... it takes hours on large datasets. Are any of the AI-based classification tools actu

Setting up insurance for my new survey firm and getting wildly different quotes. Some insurers want $1M liability, others are pushing $5M. Hull coverage quotes range from $500 to $2000/year for an M3E

I'm trying to reduce software costs and wondering if QGIS can handle professional drone mapping deliverables. Currently using ArcGIS Pro but the $700/year licensing adds up. Specifically need to: - S

Dumb question maybe but I'm struggling with coordinate systems. My client wants deliverables in State Plane (NAD83 California Zone 5) but I'm not sure I'm setting up DroneDeploy correctly. Right now

Got a project about 2 miles from a regional airport in controlled airspace. First time dealing with LAANC. The grid shows I can get auto-approval up to 200ft but I need 300ft for good GSD. Do I need

Working on a 3-mile corridor survey for a proposed road alignment. 200ft wide corridor. Flying at 250ft AGL with 75/70 overlap. How do you guys handle GCP placement on long linear sites? Every 500ft

Trying to put together a professional portfolio to win more contracts. Currently just showing raw ortho images in a PDF which feels amateur. For those who've built effective portfolios: - What delive

Remote ID deadline keeps getting pushed but it's supposedly real now. Flying an older M2E that doesn't have built-in Remote ID. Are you guys buying broadcast modules? Upgrading drones? Or just hoping

Just got a project that generated 12,000 images over a 500-acre site. My workstation (Ryzen 7, 32GB RAM, RTX 3070) is choking on this in Pix4D. Estimated processing time: 4 days. Options I'm consider

Running an M350 RTK with L1 for utility corridor work. DJI just dropped the L2 and it's tempting but not cheap. Anyone made the upgrade? Is the accuracy improvement real or marketing? We're mostly do

Civil engineer client wants 1-foot contours from our drone survey of a 40-acre greenfield site. Currently processing in Pix4D and exporting to DXF. The raw contours are noisy as expected. What's your

Need to add LiDAR capability but the DJI L2 at $15k is hard to justify for occasional use. Seeing some Hesai-based systems from Chinese manufacturers at half the price. Anyone have experience with th

Had my first real crash yesterday. M350 RTK hit a guy wire that wasn't on the site plans. Drone is totaled, $14k loss. No injuries, no property damage beyond the drone. Filing a claim with BWI. Anyon

Working on a forestry project that needs canopy height modeling and below-canopy terrain. Obviously photogrammetry can't see through trees so the DTM under tree cover is basically interpolated. LiDAR

Trying to land more freelance clients but struggling to showcase my work. Most of my projects are under NDA or I don't have rights to share the deliverables. How do you guys build a portfolio when yo

My clients keep asking for "professional looking maps" instead of just raw ortho files. They want title blocks, legends, scale bars, north arrows - the whole cartographic package. Currently doing thi

Been running M3E RTK for 2 years, works great. DJI just released the Matrice 4 Enterprise and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth upgrading. Specs look similar - same 20MP 4/3" sensor, similar fli

Looking at alternatives to DJI given the potential ban concerns. The Evo Max 4T has some interesting specs on paper - RTK capable, 48MP wide camera, thermal, laser rangefinder. But I can't find anyon

We're looking at setting up a DJI Dock 2 at a large construction site for daily progress monitoring. The idea is fully autonomous flights every morning before the crew arrives. Curious if anyone has