Mapping with Drones 2

By the end of the course, you will be able to: 

• plan flight routes over complex terrain and obstacles
• plan and execute RTK GNSS, ground control surveys to calibrate and validate drone data
• assess and report on spatial accuracy
• process drone data using WebODM advanced options and evaluate outputs
• conduct and validate cut/fill volume analysis
• perform advanced raster analysis from data outputs

Software and computer requirements:

This course will use a variety of geospatial software including Google Earth, QGIS, Web OpenDroneMap (WebODM), and Map Pilot Pro. The WebODM software will have an associated fee of fee of $90 for Windows or $139 for Mac OS to support a streamlined software setup.   

Map Pilot Pro flight planning software requires a Pro Level Subscription available through mapsmadeeasy.com   The fee is $15 USD per month. Follow the software update directions in the course site for details. 

Specific software instructions will be provided during week one of the course. Therefore, software should NOT BE downloaded until you are notified by your instructor. 

Please note:This course has been developed using Microsoft Windows for desktop and an Apple iPad/iPhone for mobile computing. All course modules are compatible for Mac users but may depict some style differences to those found for PC users (i.e.: menus and file saving directions).

• Minimum Hardware / Software Windows
• Windows 11 or newer (some versions of Windows 10 are supported as well, see https://endoflife.date/windows for a full list).
• 64bit CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and SSSE3 instruction set support or higher (was your CPU manufactured in the last 10 years?). Windows on Arm is not supported.
• 20 GB free disk space
• 8 GB RAM *, but you’ll be happiest with 16GB or more.

Note: Additional RAM, an SSD hard drive, and newer generation processors will process datasets more rapidly.

Minimum Hardware / Software macOS 

• macOS 12 or newer. Apple Silicon (M1+) is supported.
• Mac hardware must be a 2010 or newer model and support virtualization.
• 20 GB free disk space
• 8 GB RAM *, but you’ll be happiest with 16GB or more.

(*) You will not be able to process more than 100 images with 8 GB of RAM. For this course, 8 GB of RAM is sufficient.  In future, if you need to process larger datasets, check the Recommended System Requirements instead, or consider purchasing access to the lightning network. 

WebODM installers do not work on 32bit computers. 

iPad or iPhone - minimum iOS 13 

Note: Androids will not be supported or recommended for use in this course due to complexities associated with the software applications that will be used.