Available with Advanced license.
ArcGIS includes several options for creating products from drone imagery. This topic focuses on ArcGIS Pro. If you want a focused desktop application without the additional functionality of ArcGIS Pro, consider using ArcGIS Drone2Map. If your organization needs a software-as-a-service (SaaS) capability, use Site Scan for ArcGIS.
The proliferation of camera drones and the fast development of photogrammetry have made it possible for GIS professionals, land managers, and many others to capture their own data and process it to create a wide variety of geospatial products.
Camera drones used for mapping capture consecutive images and frames with overlaps higher than 70 percent to allow the successful photogrammetric processing. The resulting images can be turned into digital surface models (DSMs), True Orthos, point clouds, and 3D meshes. These photogrammetric products can then be used as part of many applications, such as city or infrastructure planning, visibility analysis, and more.
ArcGIS Pro allows users to create traditional orthomosaics, digital terrain models (DTMs), DSMs, True Orthos, point clouds, and 3D meshes from drone imagery.
To create orthomosaics and DSMs, use the ortho mapping capability, which is part of ArcGIS Pro Advanced. To create True Orthos, point clouds, and 3D meshes, as well as ortho mapping results, use the reality mapping capability, which is a part of ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro.
Both the ortho mapping and reality mapping capabilities include a wizard that allows users to create multiple products in a single process.
Use the following high-level workflow to create drone imagery products:
- Create a reality mapping or ortho mapping workspace and input your drone imagery data.
- Perform a block adjustment, which analyzes the content in the overlapped imagery and metadata about the drone camera location to calculate accurate image orientations.
- If not using an RTK drone, apply ground control points to ensure spatial accuracy.
- Choose and generate the imagery output products such as a 2D or 3D mesh, point cloud, or True Ortho product.
Note:
To use this workflow, you'll need ArcGIS Pro Standard or ArcGIS Pro Advanced (for ortho mapping) or the ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro extension (for Reality mapping). You can publish data products to ArcGIS Online or your ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
Imagery Workflows resources
Try a hands-on ortho mapping tutorial for processing drone imagery using sample data from the Imagery Workflows website.
ArcGIS help
Review the following links on reference materials for ArcGIS products:
- Read an overview of ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro.
- Get answers to frequently asked questions about ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro.
- Review specific workflows for generating DSMs, DSM meshes, True Orthos, point clouds, or 3D meshes with ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro.
- Reality mapping help:
- Create a reality mapping workspace for drone imagery.
- Perform block adjustment for drone imagery.
- Learn how to use wizards to create individual 2D or 3D reality mapping products or multiple reality mapping products simultaneously in ArcGIS Pro.
- Ortho mapping help:
- Read an overview of the ortho mapping workflow in ArcGIS Pro.
- Learn how to set up a workspace for drone imagery in ArcGIS Pro.
- Learn how to set up a workspace for RedEdge or Altum imagery in ArcGIS Pro.
- Read about block adjustment options for drone imagery.
ArcGIS blog articles, stories, and technical papers
Review the following supplemental guidance about concepts, software functionality, and workflows:
- Read about how ArcGIS Reality supports drone imagery product generation.
- Read a series of introductory blog articles about ortho mapping, including Getting Organized with a Workspace, Getting Adjusted, and Getting Results.
- Read about ArcGIS Flight, a free drone flight planning app to help capture high-quality data.
Training and tutorials
Complete a tutorial to learn how to create drone imagery products in ArcGIS Reality for ArcGIS Pro.
Developer resources
Review the following resources and support for automating and customizing workflows:
- Review a guide on automating ortho mapping workflows and learn about using the arcgis.raster.ortho mapping module in ArcGIS API for Python.
- Use ArcGIS REST API calls to control ortho mapping on a suitably configured server using remote web calls (use the Compute Sensor Model operation to perform block adjustment).
Technical support
Learn how to troubleshoot a known problem with negative z-values in drone imagery (specific to drone imagery from the DJI6000 series FC camera models).
Esri Community
Ask the ArcGIS Reality Community questions about creating drone imagery products.
Related topics
- Manage preprocessed orthophotos
- Create drone imagery products using ArcGIS Drone2Map
- Capture drone imagery with ArcGIS Flight
- Create drone imagery products using Site Scan Manager for ArcGIS
- Create scanned aerial imagery products using ArcGIS Pro
- Create satellite imagery products using ArcGIS Pro
- Create digital aerial imagery products using ArcGIS Pro
- Visualize stereo imagery
- Manage and visualize oriented imagery