I do mostly video work, and mapping has always fascinated me, but dang the price for some of the services is crazy
Besides I am a fan of open source. /QUOTE]
I would recommend getting your feet wet with Maps Made Easy, using their free Map Pilot app. I flew my first mapping mission last week and it all went very smoothly. My assignment didn't include mapping, but it was a good site to try it out on so I just gave it a go. I mapped 31 acres and the processing fee only cost me about $20. The processing fee for small sites is actually free, so it's an easy software to play with in order to become familiar with the variables like altitude, speed, overlap percentage, pattern type, batteries needed, etc.