Advice on making 3D maps for the web?

[Ravenflight]

I want to learn to make 2D/3D maps to use in web applications. I've studied it some but I'm a little overwhelmed by it all. My impression at this point is that ArcGIS is the software I need to learn to make any kind of map and to put a map on the web I'm going to need some kind of tile server like Serve Raster and Vector Tiles with Tileserver GL or something along those lines. I'm a web developer and learning to do this wouldn't be far out of my way but I'm a bit of a slow learner and it would be a big help to me if there was someone with some experience that could help me get started in the right direction. Any advice at all is appreciated!

 

[Dave Pitman]

Have you looked at GDAL?

It involves a little command line work but not too much. And it's a free solution. You pay for your own hosting of course.

 

[Ravenflight]

No, I hadn't heard of it. I'm checking it out now. Thanks!

 

[T-Dog]

I am a member of our company's enterprise GIS team for which we use the full ESRI stack. Not only am I the drone pilot, but I also process all the drone imagery from start to finish for our clients. As you are probably already aware, ESRI products are not cheap and have their own baggage. There's a whole debate regarding Open GIS vs. commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS). They both have their pros and cons, but that's a whole another discussion. Since you inquired about ArcGIS, I can try to help or make things more confusing.

Here's our general workflow from start to finish:
Project/Mission Planning

• I use both ArcGIS and DroneDeploy
  • ArcGIS for location siting prep. Overlaying layers like landownership, CAD data, and other client data. Plus doing project related GIS stuff.
  • DroneDeploy for creating the flight bounding area or importing flight boundaries generated in ArcGIS.

Drone Mapping

• DroneDeploy for the actual imagery collection
• Aerial survey targets
• Trimble GPS unit for collecting ground control points

Imagery Post-processing*

• ESRI's Drone2Map imagery processing program built on the Pix4D processing engine. Outputs are standalone files and you can also push the resulting imagery from Drone2Map to an ESRI ArcGIS Online account or an on-premise ArcGIS Enterprise Portal.
• PhotoShop Lightroom or whatever program for batch pre-processing image cleanup if needed.

Serving Imagery in Applications

• Since we are an enterprise shop, we have our own servers for housing imagery, serving up tiles through ArcGIS Enterprise Server, and our own web servers for application hosting, but of course there are other options too.
  • You may opt for paying for an ArcGIS Online account for which you can house imagery and create ESRI flavored applications.
  • Another option is to use ESRI's ArcGIS JavaScript API to create custom apps and pull in imagery from an ArcGIS Online account or any other hosting server.
  • Another option is to use opensource web mapping API's like Leaflet for online GIS application development. There are others out there too.
  • You can look into AWS and ESRI options too.

* DroneDeploy has an online imagery processing service that works well. There are other online drone imagery processing companies too. Just Google around.

I am definitely over simplifying the process and programs used, but this should get you thinking about the workflow and the types of programs to research. If you are planning on overlaying other spatial layers or conducting spatial analysis, there is a whole GIS/Spatial awareness when creating 2D/3D map products too. That is out of scope for this thread though.

Others will have their own opinions and workflows as well, and depending on the size and scope of your projects may be better suited, but this has worked for us and our clients. I would like to hear what others are doing too! Once again, YES, ESRI products are expensive, but the company spends enormous amounts of money to try and make workflows rather seamless from start to finish.

Please feel free to ask for clarification or anything else.

 

[Ravenflight]

I am a member of our company's enterprise GIS team for which we use the full ESRI stack. Not only am I the drone pilot, but I also process all the drone imagery from start to finish for our clients. As you are probably already aware, ESRI products are not cheap and have their own baggage. There's a whole debate regarding Open GIS vs. commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS). They both have their pros and cons, but that's a whole another discussion. Since you inquired about ArcGIS, I can try to help or make things more confusing.

Here's our general workflow from start to finish:
Project/Mission Planning

• I use both ArcGIS and DroneDeploy
  • ArcGIS for location siting prep. Overlaying layers like landownership, CAD data, and other client data. Plus doing project related GIS stuff.
  • DroneDeploy for creating the flight bounding area or importing flight boundaries generated in ArcGIS.

Drone Mapping

• DroneDeploy for the actual imagery collection
• Aerial survey targets
• Trimble GPS unit for collecting ground control points

Imagery Post-processing*

• ESRI's Drone2Map imagery processing program built on the Pix4D processing engine. Outputs are standalone files and you can also push the resulting imagery from Drone2Map to an ESRI ArcGIS Online account or an on-premise ArcGIS Enterprise Portal.
• PhotoShop Lightroom or whatever program for batch pre-processing image cleanup if needed.

Serving Imagery in Applications

• Since we are an enterprise shop, we have our own servers for housing imagery, serving up tiles through ArcGIS Enterprise Server, and our own web servers for application hosting, but of course there are other options too.
  • You may opt for paying for an ArcGIS Online account for which you can house imagery and create ESRI flavored applications.
  • Another option is to use ESRI's ArcGIS JavaScript API to create custom apps and pull in imagery from an ArcGIS Online account or any other hosting server.
  • Another option is to use opensource web mapping API's like Leaflet for online GIS application development. There are others out there too.
  • You can look into AWS and ESRI options too.

* DroneDeploy has an online imagery processing service that works well. There are other online drone imagery processing companies too. Just Google around.

I am definitely over simplifying the process and programs used, but this should get you thinking about the workflow and the types of programs to research. If you are planning on overlaying other spatial layers or conducting spatial analysis, there is a whole GIS/Spatial awareness when creating 2D/3D map products too. That is out of scope for this thread though.

Others will have their own opinions and workflows as well, and depending on the size and scope of your projects may be better suited, but this has worked for us and our clients. I would like to hear what others are doing too! Once again, YES, ESRI products are expensive, but the company spends enormous amounts of money to try and make workflows rather seamless from start to finish.

Please feel free to ask for clarification or anything else.

This is fantastic information! Thank you! Learning about your workflow is very helpful. I've used a free 30-day trial of DroneDeploy a little over a year ago to see what it was capable of. The flight planning was nice and easy to use and the way it would create 3D models from nadir and oblique imagery was pretty cool but it seemed to lack the quality and portability I was looking for. I want to create high resolution maps with 3D modeled buildings like Google Maps' 3D view that will run in a browser where I can use typical web development tools to integrate it into a website and do things like scripting, styling and linking information and virtual tours. For this kind of application, are the ESRI products the way to go in your opinion? I know what ArcGIS costs and I think it's an acceptable business expense if it provides better quality and/or a faster work flow.

Thank you again!

 

[T-Dog]

This is fantastic information! Thank you! Learning about your workflow is very helpful. I've used a free 30-day trial of DroneDeploy a little over a year ago to see what it was capable of. The flight planning was nice and easy to use and the way it would create 3D models from nadir and oblique imagery was pretty cool but it seemed to lack the quality and portability I was looking for. I want to create high resolution maps with 3D modeled buildings like Google Maps' 3D view that will run in a browser where I can use typical web development tools to integrate it into a website and do things like scripting, styling and linking information and virtual tours. For this kind of application, are the ESRI products the way to go in your opinion? I know what ArcGIS costs and I think it's an acceptable business expense if it provides better quality and/or a faster work flow.

Thank you again!

I would say yes regarding ESRI products would produce the final product you are looking for, but that is my opinion since I've been working with the software for quite a while. So far DroneDeploy has worked the best for mission planning and image capture, but I just use their free mobile app for that and use Drone2Map to do all the image processing. Regarding quality, well as you probably know, there are many factors that are in play.

Drone height and Image overlap

• 100ft - 300 ft. drone height depending on acreage and desired image resolution
• 80-90 Frontlap and 70-80 sidelap for image overlapping. For 3D you may want to do 90/90.

Camera settings

• Adjust camera settings for shutter speed, lock aperture and lock in white balance for consistent images across the project area.
• ISO 100

I use DroneDeploy's documentation and blogs for guidance for various image capture techniques (mapping and 3D), but there was a lot of trial and error to get a desired result that is repeatable.

Regarding 3D models, there's rather a range of options for constructing. Use DroneDeploy and Drone2Map to create nice basic models. For really high-end modeling and model dissecting, I've used ESRI's CityEngine for model building and overlay building images to the model's faces. CityEngine will allow you to export to a format that can then be used online through ArcGIS Online. From there you bring in those scenes to a custom web app using ESRI's JavaScript API or ESRI's WebApp builder.

Sign up for a ArcGIS Online free trail. You will also get a free Drone2Map trial with the ArcGIS Online free trial. Even ESRI's CityEngine has a free trial too. You will be able to get a final product with these free trials even if only you can view it. As with everything, this process has a steep learning curve with all the nuances, but documentation and forums are your friends.

Once again, others may have different approaches. I would like to hear about those too. Probably more info than you needed, but just things to be aware of.

 

[Ravenflight]

I would say yes regarding ESRI products would produce the final product you are looking for, but that is my opinion since I've been working with the software for quite a while. So far DroneDeploy has worked the best for mission planning and image capture, but I just use their free mobile app for that and use Drone2Map to do all the image processing. Regarding quality, well as you probably know, there are many factors that are in play.

Drone height and Image overlap

• 100ft - 300 ft. drone height depending on acreage and desired image resolution
• 80-90 Frontlap and 70-80 sidelap for image overlapping. For 3D you may want to do 90/90.

Camera settings

• Adjust camera settings for shutter speed, lock aperture and lock in white balance for consistent images across the project area.
• ISO 100

I use DroneDeploy's documentation and blogs for guidance for various image capture techniques (mapping and 3D), but there was a lot of trial and error to get a desired result that is repeatable.

Regarding 3D models, there's rather a range of options for constructing. Use DroneDeploy and Drone2Map to create nice basic models. For really high-end modeling and model dissecting, I've used ESRI's CityEngine for model building and overlay building images to the model's faces. CityEngine will allow you to export to a format that can then be used online through ArcGIS Online. From there you bring in those scenes to a custom web app using ESRI's JavaScript API or ESRI's WebApp builder.

Sign up for a ArcGIS Online free trail. You will also get a free Drone2Map trial with the ArcGIS Online free trial. Even ESRI's CityEngine has a free trial too. You will be able to get a final product with these free trials even if only you can view it. As with everything, this process has a steep learning curve with all the nuances, but documentation and forums are your friends.

Once again, others may have different approaches. I would like to hear about those too. Probably more info than you needed, but just things to be aware of.

More great information! Thank you! I think I can make a good start with what you've given me here. I'm excited to get started.

 

[Dave Pitman]

I think if your business plan is "enterprise level" (what ever that is, haha) then the Ersi, and /or Autodesk universe is probably the best place to spend your time. Be advised though, that it's going to take "enterprise" levels of clients to pay for it. If that's your market that's great.

If so, I would suggest perhaps adding personnel that already have experience with those platforms because they are deep. I'm not saying you can't learn. I'm just suggesting that if you are going to be providing services to gov'ts, and large companies, you will want to know what you're doing cause they got lots of lawyers in case you goof up.

Of course I don't know your plan or ideas. Just sayin' !

 

[Ravenflight]

I think if your business plan is "enterprise level" (what ever that is, haha) then the Ersi, and /or Autodesk universe is probably the best place to spend your time. Be advised though, that it's going to take "enterprise" levels of clients to pay for it. If that's your market that's great.

If so, I would suggest perhaps adding personnel that already have experience with those platforms because they are deep. I'm not saying you can't learn. I'm just suggesting that if you are going to be providing services to gov'ts, and large companies, you will want to know what you're doing cause they got lots of lawyers in case you goof up.

Of course I don't know your plan or ideas. Just sayin' !

That's good input. Something to be thinking about for sure. The market I have in mind will easily pay for the software. I feel pretty confident about entering this market because I already have a lot of the skills, equipment and experience to do this kind of work. The mapping/modelling piece is my weakest area but I think I have good foundation for learning it and if I can then I'll be in a unique position to offer a highly competitive product at a highly competitive price. Right now it's all still exploratory though. I've not actually built a campus tour like this before. So we'll see. Who knows what the future holds.

The prospect of building this kind of thing really excites me. I love computational photography.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Nothing better than doing what you love. Good luck!