Joined about 2 months ago
DOT surveyor, highway corridors
on Creating deliverable-quality PDF map sheets from drone data
QGIS print composer with saved templates. I have templates for: - Site overview (1"=100') - Detail sheets (1"=40') - Cross sections - Volume reports Once the templates are set up, swapping in new project data takes 5 minutes per sheet. Export to PDF with 300dpi and it looks professional. Happy to share my templates if you want to adapt them.
on Processing 10,000+ image datasets - hardware and workflow
PIX4Dcloud handles large datasets much better than desktop processing. Upload your images and let their server farm handle it. Results in hours instead of days. We switched all our large projects to cloud processing. The subscription cost is cheaper than the hardware upgrade would be.
on Drone mapping in challenging terrain - cliffs, canopy, and elevation change
Yeah the terrain following got sketchy on anything above about 30 degrees. We set a minimum altitude override at 150ft AGL and manually monitored during those sections. DJI Pilot 2's terrain following is decent but it uses SRTM data which is 30m resolution - not great for rugged terrain. Next time I'd probably bring a lidar unit for the wooded ravines like Larry mentioned. Live and learn.
on Oblique photos for building facades - workflow and tips
DJI Pilot 2 has an oblique mission mode that automates the multi-angle capture. Set up a polygon around your area and it flies nadir + 4 oblique passes. Processing in Pix4D with the 3D Maps template. For heritage documentation, look into HABS/HAER standards if your client needs archival-quality deliverables.