ArcGIS includes several options for creating products from drone imagery. This topic focuses on using ArcGIS Drone2Map. Alternatively, you can use ArcGIS Pro Advanced. If your organization needs a software-as-a-service (SaaS) capability, see Site Scan for ArcGIS.
Consumer drones with quality cameras have enabled dramatic growth in the ability of GIS professionals, land managers, and many others to capture their own imagery, when and where required, and process it to create accurate geospatial products.
You generally need to process the individual, overlapping image frames acquired by drones to create a variety of 2D and 3D products, including orthorectified imagery (orthomosaics), digital surface models (DSMs) and digital terrain models (DTMs), point clouds, and textured meshes. These data products are then used for visualization or analysis, and may need to be shared with colleagues or the public.
ArcGIS Drone2Map provides a workflow-focused interface for creating products from single-frame drone images (assuming adequate overlap). Most modern consumer cameras are fully supported, simplifying the process of bringing your imagery into the app. You can add ground control points to ensure horizontal and vertical accuracy. The resulting products can be published as web-accessible services through ArcGIS Online.
Supported workflows for creating products include the following:
- Generating 2D products—Orthorectified mosaics and digital surface models
- Generating 3D productions—3D points clouds and textured meshes
Explore the following resources to learn more about using Drone2Map to generate 2D and 3D products from drone imagery. (Not sure where to start? Look for the star by Esri's most helpful resources.)
Note:
To use this workflow, you'll need ArcGIS Drone2Map. You'll need an ArcGIS Online subscription account to sign in, which you can also use to publish data products. To use mosaic datasets to manage collections of imagery products that you create, you'll need ArcGIS Desktop Standard or Desktop Advanced.
ArcGIS help
Review the following links on reference materials for ArcGIS products:
- Read an overview of Drone2Map.
- Get answers to frequently asked questions about Drone2Map.
- Change processing options (such as spatial resolution or the coordinate system) of output orthomosaics.
- Configure Drone2Map for offline use.
- Define and save custom processing templates so you can, for example, create both 2D and 3D products simultaneously.
- Publish 2D products or 3D products as web-accessible services through ArcGIS Online or your ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
- Use batch processing to process large image collections as a series of subprojects.
Videos
Review the following Esri-produced videos that clarify and demonstrate concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
- See how Drone2Map-generated products can be used for utility inspections and corridor management (6 minutes).
- See an introduction to Drone2Map—and drone mapping in general—from the 2017 Esri User Conference (1.25 hours).
Training and tutorials
Review the following guided lessons and tutorials based on real-world problems and key ArcGIS skills:
- In this Drone2Map tutorial, learn how to create a 3D representation of an office building development from drone imagery and publish the results.
- Watch Streamline Imagery Workflows with ArcGIS Drone2Map (1-hour training seminar) to see presenters use Drone2Map to create orthomosaics, point clouds, and 3D meshes from drone-captured imagery, and share and work with these products in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro.
- Learn about best practices to capture and validate drone imagery in Getting Started with Drone2Map (2.25-hour web course).
- Learn how to create orthomosaics and digital surface models from drone imagery in Creating 2D Products Using Drone2Map (2-hour web course).*
- Learn how to create 3D point clouds, texture meshes, and 3D PDFs in Creating 3D Products Using ArcGIS Drone2Map (2-hour web course).*
Esri Community
Use the online imagery community to connect, collaborate, and share experiences:
- Visit the Esri Drone2Map community to connect, collaborate, and share experiences regarding creating drone imagery products.