Dr. Christoph Strecha

LEADERS' OUTLOOK

ANNUAL EDITION / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022

Drones for the Geospatial Industry

BY DR. CHRISTOPH STRECHA

Founder & CEO, Pix4D

Today, since drones have become an established tool for surveying, the rise of handheld photogrammetry and LiDAR solutions will revolutionize the geospatial industry in the coming future. We, at Pix4D, have been using phone-based photogrammetry for years and are glad to see others doing the same today, thanks to the power and camera quality of new-age phones.

Phone-based photogrammetry is possible partially due to the inclusion of LiDAR or ToF (timeof-flight) sensors. One obstacle, which concerns GPS accuracy, has been overcome with products such as viDoc RTK rover, a portable RTK (real-time kinetic positioning) GPS rover that connects to NTRIP networks. Designed in Germany, it provides RTK data during single-point collection. We expect to see widespread adoption of such products in the future.

Rise of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In the last few years, drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) regulations have been standardized and pilots are being held accountable for their actions. Therefore, today, UAVs are increasingly being used for 3D scanning and reality capture. This change Impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies are making a massive difference to many industries, primarily due to the sheer speed at which they are being developed. At Pix4D, we use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to inform and improve our algorithms and enjoy the virtuous cycle of AI, where it improves with continued use and exposure. A specific, real-world use involves processing point clouds with PIX4Dmatic, where our software can automatically use sky and noise filters to remove any distortion. The imagery is collected with drones and the output can be attained easily with less need for editing, which saves time for the entire project.

For our other products, we use specialized algorithms to streamline workflows, such as PIX4Dsurvey, where the software has automatic road marking and identification of manhole covers when vectorizing a terrain. This technology makes work easier for human operators by increasing efficiency and overall savings.

in regulations has happened along with a rise in scalability of UAV operations, which, when coupled with enhanced software capabilities, can lead to better outcomes and returns on investment.

The evolution of distributed computing, Cloud processes, and common data environments is leading us to a point where we can collect more and more data. This offers new opportunities for critical applications, such as tracking site progress. Data collection itself is becoming cheaper, without its quality being compromised, thanks to consumer drones and phones with better capabilities.

As far as the challenge of linking all this data is concerned, common data environments and cloud computing ensure that drones can be optimally used in the geospatial industry. These tools enable easy sharing and communication, which means that multiple stakeholders can work on the same project, even when only one of them is on site. We are already seeing geospatial specialists take advantage of this — we have our own specialized Cloud platform to allow ease of data sharing and analysis. The next obstacle will be ensuring standardized formats and connections between platform and software components to further digitize our world.

Data collection itself is becoming cheaper, without its quality being compromised, thanks to consumer drones and phones with better capabilities.