Drone mapping and modelling an Iron Age landscape.

by D C on January 14, 2020 with No Comments

Drone mapping within an Iron Age Settlement. Maps. It has to be said, here at clearskyimaging we do love a good map or two! So much so that we have undertaken courses in mapping and photogrammetry with drones, and QGIS in order to present any mapping data we obtain for clients. Being based in Shropshire, within the Welsh marches, we do have a fair bit of history too.Here, we took the opportunity to investigate a local Iron Age hillfort, … Read More

OpenDroneMap on CentOS 7

by D C on November 19, 2019 with No Comments

Installing a Low Cost (or No Cost) Drone mapping solution on CentOS 7 Linux. Drone mapping and 3D modelling solutions range from free or very reasonable cost, to very high end solutions, with a price tag to match! Here we’re going to install a free, open source application, onto a free Operating System. Having previously installed, and utilised OpenDroneMap on a Mint 18 Linux Laptop and Workstation, as well as a Windows 10 Desktop, we took the opportunity, when rebuilding … Read More

Aerial 3D Photogrammetry without a drone or UAV.

by D C on October 30, 2019 with No Comments

How on earth could we produce a 3D model, where drones are not allowed? When researching a route to a training establishment for a recent QGIS training course, we were intrigued to see a ‘pin’ on Google Maps for a something called ‘Arthur’s Stone’, which appeared to be a small neolithic burial chamber, overlooking the ‘Golden Valley’ in Herefordshire. We immediately wondered just how this would look as a 3D model! Investigating the site further, it became clear that it … Read More

A 3D model of the Treasury in Petra (without even visiting!)

by D C on March 16, 2019 with No Comments

Never having been to Petra, and not really being able to visit any time soon, I was inspired by a post on packet39.com where they created a 3d ‘model’ of the Treasury building there. I thought I’d give it a try. But instead of using commercial software to generate the point cloud and mesh, I thought I’d give it a go with COLMAP, using this excellent tutorial over at sketchfab. So I downloaded 100 or so images of the Treasury … Read More

Drone mapping of abandoned quarry workings

by D C on December 28, 2018 with No Comments

On Titterstone Clee Hill, just outside of Ludlow in Shropshire, there are some old, long abandoned quarry workings, ripe for an example of drone mapping. Using a Mavic pro drone, and Maps Made Easy, a pre-planned UAV flight was designed and flown. In all, 80 photos were taken and stitched together. The resulting images, once submitted to Maps Made Easy, were then used to generate a small 3D model of the area. The resulting images that were stitched together, are … Read More