OpenDroneMap — GCP file format

Introduction: So much documentation to catch up on for OpenDroneMap. Probably the most important missing element is documenting the ground control point file format. This will be a file name gcp_list.txt to be placed in the root of the image directory that you are processing. Objective: The ground control point file associates locations in the input raw images with geographic positions, allowing for the output … Continue reading OpenDroneMap — GCP file format

OpenDroneMap — Now with animated GIFs

Ok. I confess, clickbait. OpenDroneMap won’t make the animated gifs for you. But come on! it can make the 3D models which you can view in Meshlab or where ever, and then create animated gifs. Ok ok. I promised animated gifs. These are from data contributed to our test dataset repo by  Aaron Racicot and Tomasz Nycz respectively.   Continue reading OpenDroneMap — Now with animated GIFs

Korean Phonetics and Hangul

Introduction: I learn topics better if I talk and write about them. If you have been following this blog for long, you’ll know that I am always willing to post half-learned knowledge here. Today, it will be the Korean alphabet, Hangul. What I like about learning Korean (people, food, culture, letters, language) is that, like culture in general, it is a complicated, many faceted and … Continue reading Korean Phonetics and Hangul

Normalizing tables in PostgreSQL: experiments with Fulcrum

Fulcrum by Spatial Networks is an interesting and very useful hosted service for collecting geo data in the field with whatever smartphone or tablet you already own.  It works well, so long as you just want to collect points, and the field building capabilities are quite extraordinary. Also, for many applications, it’s cheaper than custom solutions, so it hits that sweet spot well. If you’ve … Continue reading Normalizing tables in PostgreSQL: experiments with Fulcrum

Take that, hipsters. Compositing in GeoServer

Let’s be honest. There’s some un-coolness to GeoServer. It’s built on Java. It’s old(er) and multi-purpose. It has none of the cache of server side javascript or GoLang goodness. But bless me, it is a workhorse. And sometimes having a tool that can do anything is a blessing. If multi-purpose toolbelts and pocket protectors are uncool, then declare me uncool. You won’t be the first. … Continue reading Take that, hipsters. Compositing in GeoServer

OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos, textured mesh, ground control points, oh my!

Spotscale’s texturing, orthophotos, and ground control have landed on the main branch for OpenDroneMap. No docs written yet, but an orthophoto and properly oriented textured mesh will be autogenerated just by running it on data with GPS ephemeris. Documentation yet to come on using ground control points for balloons, kites, and lower end drones, but expect that early next week.   (edit: for the record, … Continue reading OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos, textured mesh, ground control points, oh my!

OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos and GCPs

No docs yet for orthophoto generation and the use of GCPs in OpenDroneMap, but for the early adopters, check out this branch of OpenDroneMap: https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/OpenDroneMap/tree/ortho-gcp The format of the GCP file is simple. The header line is a description of the coordinate system (nothing formal here). Subsequent lines are the X, Y & Z coordinate in your coordinate system, your associated pixel and line number … Continue reading OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos and GCPs

OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos and Textured Mesh (Habitats)

ODM shows some promise in mapping out microhabitats as on display with Michele Tobias & Alex Mandel’s dataset of hot air balloon derived images of Coal Oil Point Reserve, Goleta, CA. Here is one of the raw images: And here’s a visualization of the small topographic and surface model variation derived from using ODM from the dataset.   edit: I’m really looking forward to trying … Continue reading OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos and Textured Mesh (Habitats)

OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos and Textured Mesh (testing…)

A few new features are about to land on OpenDroneMap. Among those features, we have great work led and implemented by Spotscale for orienting our textured meshes so that Z is up: and auto-exporting an orthophoto when GPS ephemeris is available in our input images: ——- Next step — testing the input of ground control points in order to output fully referenced and orthorectified imagery. … Continue reading OpenDroneMap — Orthophotos and Textured Mesh (testing…)