Use tile-based processing

Available with Advanced license.

In ArcGIS Drone2Map, True Orthos are generated as tiles then mosaicked together. The existence of these tiles allows you to reprocess portions of the imagery rather than the whole product. This saves time and allows you to iterate corrections on the output True Ortho to achieve your ideal product. When you draw a correction feature or waterbody mask over an existing True Ortho, only the tiles that contain those features will be reprocessed. This drastically reduces the time it takes to generate a new True Ortho and refine features within the project area.

There are two methods to apply the tile-based processing workflow. The first method allows you to reprocess tiles but maintains the original tile in a mosaic dataset. This means you can select which tile you want to reprocess but it allows you to revert to the original product if needed. The second method automatically overwrites the tiles that have correction features and writes a full new True Ortho. The original True Ortho is maintained in the project folder as a backup. To learn more about reprocessing, see Data reprocessing.

Note:

Since tile-based processing is only intended for True Ortho products, it is recommended that you turn off all other products when attempting the following workflows to save time. Otherwise, any enabled product will be regenerated and prolong processing times.

Individual tile processing

You can configure True Orthos to be created without the merge tiles option. This generates a mosaic dataset with all imagery separated into tiles. These tiles can have correction or waterbody features drawn over them and reprocessed.

Choose which tiles get used with individual tile-based processing.

1. From the Home tab, use the Options button in the Processing group to open the Options window.
2. Browse to the 2D products tab.
3. Uncheck the Merge Tiles check box under the True Ortho section.
4. Click Apply and click OK.
5. Use the Start button on the Home tab to begin processing.

   Ensure that the True Ortho product is checked before processing.

   A mosaic dataset named True Ortho Tiles is added to the Imagery Products group in the contents pane.

6. Once processing completes, click either the Waterbody Mask or Correction Feature drop-down menu on the Home tab.
7. Choose the option to Create Waterbody or Create Correction Feature.

   The Create Features pane appears and automatically starts an edit session with the polygon template enabled for drawing.

8. Draw a new feature over any areas needing modification.
9. Click the Finish button on the editing toolbar in the map window.
10. Close the Create Features pane.
11. Press Start to begin reprocessing the tiles with your drawn features.

    Once processing completes, review the result. You may need to uncheck the preprocessing layers or refresh the map to see the changes.

12. Verify the new tile has been created.

    By default, the First mosaic operator is used to display the tiles within the mosaic dataset. Any new tiles will appear as the first raster dataset and therefore be pushed to the top of the display order. Subsequent runs of the workflow will create additional tiles and continue to use the same operator. You can change the mosaic dataset operator for the True Ortho by clicking the True Ortho tiles layer in the contents pane. The Mosaic Layer tab will appear on the ribbon and contains the Image Display Order group for modifying the mosaic dataset display.

Mass tile processing

When you use the default option of merging tiles for generating your True Ortho tiles are not individually displayed. Instead, you can draw the correction features over the existing True Ortho and Drone2Map will automatically reprocess those tiles. The end result is a new True Ortho with your preprocessing features applied. Each new processing run will store the old True Ortho into a new backup folder in the project folder. To learn more about reprocessing, see Data reprocessing.

Draw features and iteratively process True Orthos to make tile-based corrections.

1. Check the True Ortho product in the Manage pane.
2. Use the Start button on the Home tab to begin processing.
3. Once processing completes, click either the Waterbody Mask or Correction Feature drop-down menu on the Home tab.
4. Choose the Create Waterbody or Create Correction Feature option.

   The Create Features pane appears and automatically starts an edit session with the polygon template enabled for drawing.

5. Draw a new feature over any areas needing modification.
6. Click the Finish button on the editing toolbar in the map window.
7. Close the Create Features pane.
8. Press Start to being reprocessing the tiles with your drawn features.

   Once processing completes, review the result. You may need to uncheck the preprocessing layers to see the changes. A backup of the original True Ortho is created and stored in the project folder under \Products\2D\True Ortho\backup. Subsequent runs of the workflow will continue to produce backup folders with the previously processed True Ortho in them.