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Define a processing extent

Mission Area is used to define the extent of processed outputs, such as True Ortho, DSM/DTM, point cloud, and meshes. All missions have a default area depending on how the mission was created. For missions flown with ArcGIS Flight, the default mission area is the flight path boundary. For other missions, the default area is a convex hull surrounding all images in the mission. The mission area can be viewed and configured before processing. Mission area polygons that include large areas without images can hinder processing performance and quality. It can help to further modify the default area to more precisely follow the image extent, especially for irregularly shaped missions.

The following is an example of a default mission area:

Default mission area

A mission area after edits:

Mission area after edit

In addition, you can create a custom mission area, which is especially useful for processing only a subset of your mission, or for creating outputs with an identical geographic extent for all missions in a project.

View and edit your mission area

To view your mission area, open a mission that contains uploaded images. Enable the Mission Area layer in the sidebar. The polygon on the map represents the extent of what your processed outputs will be. You can edit the geometry of the current mission area or replace it with any volume measurement that is pinned to the project.

To edit the mission area polygon geometry, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the mission and enable the Mission Area layer from the sidebar.
  2. Click the overflow drop-down menu of the Mission Area layer (three dots next to the layer visibility toggle button).
  3. Click Edit from the drop-down menu.

    Edit mission area interface

  4. Drag the polygon and modify the vertices to the desired extent.
    Note:

    To edit vertices, you first need to click the polygon to expose the vertices for editing. Then, you can right-click vertices to delete them, drag existing ones to new locations, or add new vertices.

  5. Click Save.

    After you edit and save a new mission area, you can return to the default mission area by clicking the mission area overflow drop-down menu, then click Set to Photos. Alternatively, if the mission was captured in ArcGIS Flight, click Set to Flight Plan.

  6. Click the Process Mission button in the lower corner, ensure that the Mission Area setting is enabled in the processing menu, then click Process Mission.
    Enable the Mission Area setting in Processing Settings.

Use a custom area

In addition to using or modifying the existing optimized areas, you can create a custom area based on a polygon drawn within the photo coverage area. Sometimes you may want to only map a small part or specific feature in your site. Another benefit to using a custom area is that you can create processed outputs with identical areas for multiple missions in your project. Outputs with matching extents can be an important part of consistent project deliverables so that data can be compared and analyzed without geographic variation.

  1. Create a volume measurement that encompasses the desired mission area.
    1. Choose the volume tool on the right sidebar of the mission map.
    2. Draw a polygon to create the measurement.
    3. To rename the measurement, open the overflow drop-down menu and click Rename.
  2. Click the star to pin the measurement to the project.

    Only volume measurements that have been pinned to the project can be selected as a mission area.

    Measurement pinned to the project

  3. Select the pinned measurement as the mission area.
    1. Go back to the Layers tab.
    2. Click the overflow drop-down menu of the Mission Area layer.
    3. Pick your measurement under the Project Measurement of the drop-down option.

      Once you select the project measurement, you have another opportunity to make edits, if needed.

      Use project measurement as mission area.

    4. Click Save.
Note:

The Mission Area setting must be enabled to process the mission area polygon.