Today, drones are equipped with plenty of amazing capabilities. They can integrate with mobile apps for easier control and management. This should make the experience more productive, fruitful and enjoyable. Depending on what goals you want to achieve, you should make sure that these machines can perform like the way they are designed. Among many types of drones, there’s the mapping drone that could provide you with real time information about terrain and landscape. As an example, before a construction project is carried out, the area should be inspected and analyzed. High resolution 3D maps can be created by making multiple passes in the area, so the contour of the terrain can be shown clearly. Based on the resulting map, certain business decisions can be made.
There are three stages of mapping procedure using the drone: Plan, flight and process. First of all, you need to define the area that you want to survey. Using a software, you can calculate the flight path. Many drone models allow automated landing and operators don’t need to interfere with the flight of the drone. However, operators can interrupt the flight at any time, if there’s something wrong with the flight process. After a successful flight, the post-processing software can be used to analyze all captured videos and photos. They can be combined to create high resolution maps, based on the high the drone flew and the resolution of the camera. At specific parts of the area, the operator can zoom in to get better details. When choosing a mapping and survey drone, it should have the following features:
- High resolution: Drones with high resolution camera can help to create a detailed map, without doing physical zoom with the camera.
- Autopilot: The main task of mapping and survey drone is to acquire images from the surrounding area. It would be very helpful for the operator, if the flight is completely autonomous. The drone needs to accurately follow the flight plan on its own and the operator can focus on controlling the camera.
- Automated workflow: Some drones are not only able to take off, follow a flight plan and land on its own. It could capture images, embed GPS tagging and perform basic post-processing within the drone itself. The output will be more meaningful for further processing.
- Desktop processing: Desktop PC is needed to properly process images and create high quality map. The drone should come with a desktop PC software for Windows OS or Mac. So, it will be relatively easy for operators to deliver real results.
- Low flying capability: A drone should be able to perform low flight to get better details. It should constantly track distance with the ground surface to avoid a crash.
- High reliability: Drones need to have high endurance when mapping a large area. Read user reviews to make know whether they are long lasting and very robust. These drones should have protective hard case that protects fragile inner components from impacts, dust and sudden rain.