Drone mapping/measurement in asphalt environment

[ttudorr]

I need some drone recommendations and software recommendations for a beginner operator with one-two years of experience in a conventional DJI drone. I am in need to measure asphalt roads in square meters (m^2) and road verges (either by concrete or ballast).

I would love to hear some recommendations and given how I’m still a beginner, compassion or tips are more than appreciated.

 

[Wanderlost]

I need some drone recommendations and software recommendations for a beginner operator with one-two years of experience in a conventional DJI drone. I am in need to measure asphalt roads in square meters (m^2) and road verges (either by concrete or ballast).

I would love to hear some recommendations and given how I’m still a beginner, compassion or tips are more than appreciated.

This is an interesting specific application. It sounds like a Mavic 3 Enterprise with RTK module would be a good start for a mapping drone with precision GPS guidance. I can't comment on software since there's a ton of it out there, most of the good stuff is very expensive. Personally I use WebODM - it's affordable and powerful enough to cover most everyday needs.
I would think you would need to establish ground control points to outline the areas you will want to measure in post processing. Not sure if you need to measure the shoulders separately or with the road surface itself. Depending on the situation - you may need your own survey RTK base station or there may be network RTK stations available - many free in the US.
After you collect and create your maps, you can use software to measure the area of stretches of road. I don't know how you could automate this process, but your use case scenario might involve small enough data sets that you could get your work done in a reasonable amount of time.
Hopefully others will chime in here who have more experience in this area.

 

[BigAl07]

This thread has some "additional" information that could be beneficial as well:

Surveying questions

Hey guys, any recommendations on what software to use for surveying land?Trying to get into this part of droning. Thank you!!

commercialdronepilots.com

 

[adm_geomatics]

There's a lot of detail needed on your use case but from what I hear you probably don't need an RTK drone. You may not even need ground control.

1. What's your budget?
2. Do you need accurate global positioning?
3. Do you have any Survey experience with coordinate systems or ground control?
4. How large of areas are you quantifying?
5. What level of accuracy do you need? 5%, 1%?

 

[DroneGuru]

I need some drone recommendations and software recommendations for a beginner operator with one-two years of experience in a conventional DJI drone. I am in need to measure asphalt roads in square meters (m^2) and road verges (either by concrete or ballast).

I would love to hear some recommendations and given how I’m still a beginner, compassion or tips are more than appreciated.

For measuring asphalt roads and road verges, consider using a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced or a DJI Phantom 4 RTK. Both drones offer high-quality imaging capabilities suitable for this task. To process the data, you could use Pix4Dmapper, Agisoft Metashape, or RealityCapture software.