So, I did a thing. I created my first personal internet video. It’s about coffee. Well, more specifically about espresso, which like Turkish, Arabic, and Ethiopian coffee types is not just merely coffee, but somehow something much more. Not content with throwing it up on YouTube, I put it on PeerTube: With more than 100 000 hosted videos, viewed more than 6 millions times and … Continue reading Affordable Espresso
In the beginning In a previous blog post, we explored how we can quite effectively derive terrain models using drones over deciduous, winter scenes. We ran into some limitations in the quality of the terrain model: the challenge was removing the unwanted features (things like tree trunks) while retaining wanted features (large rock features). I concluded the post thusly: For our use case, however, we … Continue reading Reconstructing cliffs in OpenDroneMap, or how to beat LiDAR at its own game (part 2)
Introduction If you haven’t seen them already, take a look at Part 1 and Part 2 of this series on using the outputs from OpenDroneMap in blender. After exploring OpenDroneMap outputs in blender for a building and its surrounding landscaping and then a some gingerbread buildings on a dining table, let’s take a look at OpenDroneMap outputs for terrain modeling in blender. It’s not uncommon … Continue reading OpenDroneMap + blender = Fun (Part 3)
Introduction For a long time, I have wanted to do a little bit of integration between OpenDroneMap and blender. A while back, we got a great contribution of some scripts to help us with that integration: https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/ODM/tree/master/contrib/blender So today, I wanted to play around a bit with bringing objects into blender and animating and lighting the scene. It took a little bit of orienting myself, … Continue reading OpenDroneMap + blender = Fun (Part 2)
(Addendum: see parts 2 and 3 of this post:) https://smathermather.com/2019/12/30/opendronemap-blender-fun-part-2/ https://smathermather.com/2019/12/30/opendronemap-blender-fun-part-3/ A preview of tutorials and fun to come: animation in blender of OpenDroneMap scenes. To be frank, the textured meshes look pretty good in meshlab, but my word they look good in blender, and this is without any special care being taken. More to come… . Continue reading OpenDroneMap + blender = Fun
One of my favorite aspects of drone mapping is, since it is 1) under our personal control 2) high resolution and 3) can collect data even when it’s cloudy, it’s possible to observe and document ephemeral phenomena that otherwise might not be captured by satellite or manned aircraft imagery. To that end we mapped lake ice yesterday. We have been flying a series of videos … Continue reading Mapping the ephemeral
LiDAR and photogrammetric point clouds If we want to understand terrain, we have a pricey solution and an inexpensive solution. For a pricey and well-loved solution, LiDAR is the tool of choice. It is synoptic, active (and therefore usable day or night), increasingly affordable (but still quite expensive), and works around even thick and tall evergreen vegetation (check out Oregon’s LiDAR specifications as compared with … Continue reading Reconstructing cliffs in OpenDroneMap, or how to beat LiDAR at its own game
The problem with typical approaches to scaling up data collection just take a standard flight path and do it a lot of times. This compounds error over the space it’s done in, which with really large data sets results in a notable bowl in the data due to incorrect lens calibration estimates. There are several fixes: If possible, fly with a fixed lens like Sensefly’s … Continue reading Optimizing flight planning for calibration (or Self Calibration of Cameras from Drone Flights, part 4)
In October of 2017, a few collegues and I walked down West Creek, in Parma, Ohio to do some prospective mapping of the stream corridor. The hope was this: that by taking a sequence of photos from within the stream, we could use photogrammetry to reconstruct the corridor and ultimately model water flow through the same corridor. Knowing the the reconstruction of this complex physical … Continue reading Reconstructing stream corridors in OpenDroneMap
I had the pleasure a couple weeks ago of attending the sibling conferences Understanding Risk West and Central Africa and State of the Map Africa in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) a few weeks ago. It included a nice mix of formal discussions of how to reduce risk in light of climate change, as well as discussions of all aspects of OpenStreetMap efforts. The conferences were … Continue reading OpenDroneMap in Côte d Ivoire for UR Afrique de l ouest et centrale and State of the Map Africa
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