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Section 3

Section 3

Video: Acquiring drone data with Site Scan for ArcGIS

Time Caption

0:00 ♪ [music] ♪

0:13 The Site Scan for ArcGIS Flight app is a tablet app that simplifies

0:17 the creation of flight plans for supported drones.

0:20 Images captured can be processed into 2D and 3D data products.

0:25 Site Scan allows users to quickly create autonomous flight plans

0:29 that are then sent to the drone.

0:31 There are several different flight templates to choose from to ensure

0:34 the best data capture method for the desired products.

0:37 Most flight templates include the drone flying over a region of interest

0:40 at specific flight lines while taking photos.

0:43 These photos are then taken at intervals required for our processing
engine

0:47 to stitch into 2D and 3D data products like, orthomosaics, digital surface
files,

0:51 point clouds, and 3D meshes.

0:54 Let's go through the flight modes.

0:57 Area Survey is the most basic flight mode.

0:59 Define a region of interest and Site Scan will create

1:01 the flight lines required to map the area.

1:04 Input the desired altitude for the flight and see the flight lines

1:07 change to accommodate the new distance above ground.

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1:10 While a 3D data product will be produced,

1:13 the facades may not be fully captured if there were any

1:15 vertical features within the region of interest due to the

1:17 default orientation of the camera being pointed straight down.

1:21 If you do have vertical features, whether constructed or natural,

1:25 it would be better to use the next flight mode, Crosshatch Survey.

1:29 Crosshatch Survey is essentially two area surveys perpendicular

1:32 except the default camera angle is 35 degrees.

1:36 This angle helps capture any vertical features

1:38 that exist within the region of interest.

1:41 Perimeter Scan is used to model a structure or set of structures.

1:45 This flight mode is planned a little differently.

1:48 First, define the footprint of the area to model and then define

1:52 the offset the drone will fly away from the footprint.

1:55 Next, define how tall the object or objects are and the minimum

1:58 and maximum altitudes for the drone to fly around the region.

2:02 These parameters will define a set of altitude tiers for the drone to fly

2:05 on sideways collecting oblique photos of the structure.

2:09 Vertical Scan is like Perimeter Scan in that it is

2:12 a way to acquire data on a vertical subject.

2:14 However, Vertical Scan is used when you cannot fly around

2:17 an object or if the object has a slope.

2:19 With Vertical Scan, you plan a line as the facade of interest

2:23 and then define whether that facade has a slope,

2:25 whether it be a fixed slope or a variable slope.

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2:28 Then like Perimeter Scan, you define the height of the slope

2:31 and the minimum and maximum altitudes for the drone to fly.

2:35 Sometimes it is necessary to capture a right-of-way or a corridor.

2:39 With Corridor Scan, instead of defining a polygon as

2:43 the region of interest, you define a polyline.

2:46 This polyline should be the centerline of the corridor to be captured.

2:50 Next, define the width of the corridor to be captured.

2:53 This information will add the appropriate number of flight lines

2:55 to be able to fully capture the corridor.

2:58 Depending on the country, it can be against regulations to

3:01 fly over moving vehicles when capturing a road corridor.

3:04 To help with this issue, you can choose not to fly directly over the
corridor.

3:09 This option essentially places two vertical scans on either side

3:12 of the corridor keeping the drone flying on the sides

3:15 instead of directly over the region of interest.

3:18 Pano is an automated flight mode that

3:20 does not produce any geospatial data products.

3:22 It instead creates a stitched 360-degree photo that can be

3:26 viewed and shared on the web or viewed in the Site Scan Flight app.

3:29 These photos can be great for sharing updates with stakeholders

3:32 or for getting a true bird's-eye view of a location.

3:36 The Terrain Follow feature ensures that the drone always

3:38 remains at a set altitude above ground.

3:40 This feature is not only used to keep the drone a safe distance away

3:43 from the terrain, it also increases the quality of the processed dataset

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3:47 by keeping the acquired photos at a constant distance above the ground,

3:51 therefore keeping a constant ground sampling distance or GSD.

3:55 Now that we understand the flight modes,

3:57 let's walk through a quick flight.

3:59 First, it's usually a good idea to pre-plan

4:01 the flight before heading out to collect.

4:03 I can take my time planning the flight and request any

4:06 airspace authorizations beforehand if required.

4:10 For this flight, I'm going to use Area Survey so that I can get

4:13 an updated basemap of the area that is undergoing a lot of construction.

4:17 I set the flight template and move the vertices to the extents

4:20 of the region of interest that I would like to map.

4:22 I don't need Terrain Follow because this is a flat area,

4:25 but this is where I would want to turn it on if I wanted to.

4:29 Next, I define the altitude above ground at which I want to capture the
data.

4:32 I'm going to keep it at 200 feet, which is the best compromise

4:35 between efficient, large area coverage

4:38 and high-resolution ground sampling distance.

4:41 After all these settings look good, I'm going to download

4:43 the basemap for offline use.

4:45 That way if I don't have an internet connection in the field,

4:48 I still have access to my basemap and 3D terrain data.

4:52 Next, I save my flight plan, making it available to me

4:55 and any other operators in my Site Scan organization.

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4:58 Let's go out into the field and capture some data.

5:01 When we're at a safe location to set up,

5:03 I'm going to take the drone out of the case

5:05 and inspect each component to ensure airworthiness.

5:08 Critical items like the propellers and their motor mounts, landing gear,

5:12 and gimbal connection must be checked before each flight.

5:15 When the aircraft is ready for flight, I first turn on

5:18 the controller and then the aircraft.

5:20 Plug the tablet into the drone's controller

5:23 using a standard tablet USB cable.

5:25 The Site Scan app should automatically recognize that the drone is
connected,

5:29 and the telemetry will be visible at the top of the app.

5:33 Now that we're ready for takeoff, I will go into the Flight Plans area

5:36 of the app and find the flight plan that I had previously saved.

5:39 I will open the flight plan and verify the plan settings.

5:42 Everything looks good, so I will go to the fly screen.

5:45 The app will automatically go through the vehicle preflight checks.

5:48 After I have four green items, I can swipe to take off.

5:52 After the swipe, the mission is loaded into the autopilot.

5:54 The propellers will start spinning, and the drone

5:56 will take off to the desired altitude.

5:59 During the flight, it is the pilot's job to ensure that the drone does not
leave

6:03 visual line of sight and that the mission is progressing normally.

6:06 When the flight is complete, the drone will return home and land

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automatically.

6:10 Now, it is time to retrieve the photos from the drone.

6:14 Retrieving the photos can be done in two ways -- wireless transfer from

6:17 the drone or by using an SD card reader for the tablet.

6:21 Wireless transfer can be easier for smaller flights,

6:24 but it can be slower if there were many images taken.

6:26 Using an SD card reader is the quickest way to retrieve the images.

6:30 After the images have been imported into the flight,

6:34 it is time to load the images for processing.

6:36 If using the Site Scan Cloud for processing, I first ensure that

6:40 the tablet is connected to the internet by LTE or Wi-Fi.

6:44 Then I go into the Flights page, select the flight to upload,

6:47 then tap the Upload to Manager button.

6:49 After the images are uploaded, cloud processing will automatically start.

6:53 If I'm using ArcGIS Drone2Map to process the data,

6:56 I will plug the tablet into the computer and use the Photo Transfer tool

7:00 to find the images in the appropriate Camera Roll folder

7:02 and import them into the Drone2Map project.

7:06 We've now seen how to use the Site Scan for ArcGIS Flight app to plan

7:09 the appropriate flight for the desired region of interest,

7:11 save the flight plan for use in the field, including downloading

7:15 all basemap and terrain data locally for offline use,

7:18 perform the flight in the field,

7:20 transfer the photos acquired by the drone to the tablet,

7:23 and finally process into 2D and 3D data products.

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