AeroCartwright
A reference collection on drone mapping, photogrammetry, LiDAR workflows, and geospatial data processing. Written by a GIS scientist with M.S. GIS, FAA Part 107, and 10+ years of field experience.
In Progress
Each series is a structured body of work on a single subject — published in order, with future articles already scoped. Pick a thread and read it through, or jump in at whatever index matches your skill level.
Series
Aviation checklist methodology applied to drone mapping — the discipline that keeps real survey work defensible. Seven phases from mission planning through deliverable handoff.
Mostly published. Final phase publishing soon.
Six-phase drone mapping checklist from pre-flight to deliverable handoff. Based on aviation protocols — prevents costly reflys and data rejection.
Pre-flight checklist for drone surveys: airspace verification, weather assessment, equipment inspection. Part 1 of the 7-phase drone mapping checklist series.
Altitude, GSD, overlap, battery budget — the four parameters that decide whether drone mapping data is usable. Mission planning checklist for surveyors.
GCP deployment checklist: placement, measurement procedure, photo documentation, field logging. Every step from planning through pre-flight.
Post-flight QA checklist: image review, coverage verification, metadata validation, 3-2-1 backup. Part 4 of the drone mapping checklist series.
Drone processing checklist: CRS setup, alignment QA, GCP integration, checkpoint validation, quality report review. Prevents accuracy failures.
Series
Mini-4-Pro–class mapping for budget-constrained professionals, freelancers, and serious hobbyists. From first orthomosaic through running a paid practice.
Publishing weekly. New articles every Mon / Wed / Fri.
Fly a grid mission with a consumer drone, process a georeferenced orthomosaic in WebODM within 90 minutes. No GCPs, no survey gear, no paid software.
DJI Mini 4 Pro mapping accuracy: ±6-16 ft GPS-only, ±4-12 in with DIY GCPs, ±0.5-1.2 in with surveyed GCPs. Consumer vs enterprise drones.
Set up survey-accurate GCPs without a surveyor or RTK. DIY target construction, budget measurement equipment, and field procedures that work.
Drone mapping flight parameters: GSD, overlap, altitude, speed. 80% frontal / 70% side minimums. Accuracy improves 11x from 60% to 80% overlap.
WaypointMap vs Litchi Pilot vs DroneLink vs DJI Fly for automated Mini 4 Pro missions. KMZ workflow for RC 2, MSDK apps for Android.
Free WebODM vs paid Pix4D for consumer drone imagery: orthomosaic quality, accuracy, real cost math, and exactly when each one is worth it in 2026.
Series
Deploy WebODM / OpenDroneMap on AWS spot instances. Cloud-scale photogrammetry at single-digit dollar cost per project, with the security and recovery practices that make it production-grade.
Rolling out Jul–Aug 2026.
Evergreen
Standalone articles outside the named series — the reference material you reach for when you need to look one specific thing up.
How accurate the survey actually is — RMSE, ground control, checkpoints, RTK and PPK, coordinate systems.
How many GCPs does a drone survey need? 5 for under 5 acres, 8-12 for 50-500. Distribution beats density. Always include independent checkpoints.
The drone map doming effect causes systematic elevation errors up to 13 ft — and the orthomosaic looks fine. Here's how to detect, fix, and prevent it.
The drone mapping quality report looks reassuring — until a client finds 8-inch errors. Learn to read every Pix4D and Metashape number before delivery.
GCP residuals measure fit, not accuracy. Drone survey checkpoints provide independent validation. How to set them up in Pix4D, Metashape, WebODM.
BVLOS is coming. Part 108 rules, waiver process, equipment, PPK workflows, and the crew-savings math for corridor and linear infrastructure.
Consumer drone mapping buyer's guide: DJI Mini 4 Pro vs Mini 3 Pro vs Autel Evo Nano+. Accuracy, rolling shutter, GCP needs — field-tested verdicts.
WGS84 vs NAD83, state plane, vertical datums — the CRS settings drone operators get wrong, and how to fix them in Metashape, Pix4D, and ODM.
LiDAR vs photogrammetry for drone surveys: real accuracy numbers, hardware costs, processing workflows, and a decision framework — when each technology wins, and when it doesn't.
Four positioning tiers for drone surveys: GPS, RTK/PPK, GCPs, and full RTK+GCPs+checkpoints. Match accuracy to the job — not every project needs the top tier.
WebODM vs Pix4D vs Metashape vs RealityCapture: pricing, speed, accuracy, and GCP workflow compared — and which one wins for survey-grade work in 2026.
Real drone survey accuracy in 2026: ±2–5 cm horizontal, ±3–12 cm vertical typical. RMSE vs CE90 vs LE90 explained, ASPRS classes, 5 red flags in any quality report.
RTK vs PPK for drone surveys: both hit 1-3cm accuracy. RTK corrects in real time, PPK processes post-flight. Failure modes, costs, when to use each.
Image-to-model pipelines — overlap, doming, settings, software comparisons, processing settings.
WebODM split from the OpenDroneMap nonprofit on April 6, 2026. What changed, why, and migration steps — new GitHub URLs, Docker images, docs.
PIX4Dmatic 2.0 absorbs PIX4Dsurvey into three tiers. Full comparison vs Metashape and DJI Terra on price, accuracy, GCP workflows, and deliverables.
A practitioner's guide to Agisoft Metashape processing settings: what each quality slider controls, why the tradeoffs matter, and three presets for real jobs.
Image overlap drone mapping: 75/60 is the floor, not the target. Here's what fails when overlap is wrong and how to set photogrammetry overlap by job type.
In April 2026 WebODM forked the OpenDroneMap stack and renamed it — ODM became ODX, NodeODM became NodeODX. Which one you actually install, and why.
Orthomosaic export settings, point cloud formats, DEMs, coordinate systems — and how to package drone deliverables so clients can actually use them.
Compare RealityScan, OpenDroneMap, Meshroom, and COLMAP for photogrammetry on Linux. Headless processing, Docker deployment, and which tool fits your workflow.
Drone data in ArcGIS Pro: import orthomosaics, point clouds, DSMs. Workflow to volume calculations, contours, and ArcGIS Online delivery.
3D Gaussian Splatting for drone operators: vs photogrammetry, accuracy benchmarks, software and pricing, hybrid workflow, what it cannot do.
Digital twin construction contracts pay $3K-15K/month recurring. The three-tier service model, CRS alignment, platforms, and how to win your first.
WebODM cloud vs local: AWS spot costs ($3-5/job), egress surprises, decision framework for when cloud wins vs when your workstation is better.
NeRF vs photogrammetry for drone mapping: accuracy numbers, output products, georeferencing limits, and a decision framework for when each wins.
Complete QGIS workflow for drone data: import orthomosaics, build pyramids, contours from DEMs, point clouds, QField field review. QGIS 3.44 LTR.
An orthomosaic is a georeferenced image mosaic built from overlapping drone photos. How photogrammetry creates one, GSD, GeoTIFF vs COG, GIS use.
DSM vs DTM vs DEM for drone operators: definitions, how each is derived from photogrammetry, ground classification, and when each product is required.
Drone mapping hardware guide: CPU, GPU, RAM, NVMe requirements for photogrammetry. Workstation builds by project size and processing software.
Drone data explained: imagery, orthomosaics, point clouds, elevation models, 3D meshes. How photogrammetry turns photos into geospatial products.
AeroCartwright: drone mapping education and geospatial tools from a working GIS professional with firefighting, academic, and federal field experience.
When LiDAR beats photogrammetry and when it does not. Multispectral, NeRF, Gaussian splatting alternatives.
Multispectral drones aren't just for crops. Water quality, wildfire, building inspection, mining, forestry — 7 non-ag applications with ROI.
In the field — planning, automation, risk, BVLOS, and what separates professional flight from hobbyist.
Drone mapping risk framework: regulations, crashes, airspace, privacy, GPS spoofing. Four categories with LAANC, insurance, ADS-B, and checklists.
Your Part 107 certificate puts you in the same FAA system as airline captains. Sectional charts, LAANC, ADS-B In — airspace discipline matters.
Part 107, BVLOS waivers, surveying legality, pricing, packaging, and the business of drone mapping.
United Flight 1980 reported striking a red drone on approach to San Diego International Airport. Here's what the incident reveals about mixed airspace risk and what every Part 107 operator needs to understand.
Tools
Free, embeddable, vendor-neutral. Use during mission planning or to sanity-check a deliverable.
Pillar Guide
30+ pages condensing the entire pipeline — mission planning, field ops, processing, deliverables, QA/QC — into a single field-ready PDF. Free.
Free download: The Complete Drone Mapping Workflow Guide — 30+ pages of field-tested methodology.
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