Application of UAV mapping system

Published on 03 Jul 2021. Written by Reddy Shekar

From many years, maps are useful for collecting, storing and manipulating information about the world. Maps also help in the decision-making process and to find where we are in relation to the environment. Due to the advancement in technology, many new technologies emerge to faster the process of mapping. UAV mapping is one of the advanced technology developed recently.

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Global Positioning System (GPS), Remote Sensing and UAV mapping, etc.. are some of the advanced technologies used in the mapping operation. All these technologies have unique applications in the mapping system to provide quality and quicker mapping.

About UAV mapping: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) mapping popularly known as Drone mapping has the ability to collect the large intensity of information of smaller areas quickly and in low cost compared to the other technologies. UAV mapping system also increases the speed of the data processing automatically after the collection of data. UAV system is best suited, where the time is limited to complete the work like surveying of flooded areas and forest fires, etc..

How it works:

UAV system use photogrammetry method to collect the information of objects or areas. Photogrammetry is the science of taking measurements from photographs. Finally, a map or drawing or 3D model of some real-world objects can get from photogrammetry.

1. To create maps from the UAV system, the camera should be placed on the drone and it should point vertically towards the ground.
2. In case of taking measurements of mountains or statues, the camera should be mount horizontally on the drone.
3. With additional installation like Lidar scanner (Light detection and ranging), UAV system can measure the height of points in the landscape with much accuracy.
4. Lidar scanner has the ability to capture hundreds of square kilometers in a single day.
5. A very detailed and quality model or map of the area can get from UAV Lidar.

Applications:

Maps or models extracted from the UAV mapping system has wide range of applications in the following fields:-

1. Flood modelling
2. Forest management
3. Urban planning
4. Archaeology
5. Transport planning
6. Exploration of minerals, oil and gas
7. Coastline management
8. Topographical survey

Softwares used:

The following softwares are used for mapping operations in the UAV system,

1. Drone deploy
2. Pix4D mapper
3. Agisoft
4. Propeller network
5. Precision Hawk

Conclusion:

With the help of advanced technology like UAV system (Drone mapping) we can obtain the detailed, quicker and inexpensive models or maps of landscape with higher accuracy.

Kit required to develop Application of UAV mapping system:

• Drone

Technologies you will learn by working on Application of UAV mapping system:

• UAV
• Photogrammetry

Any Questions?