Orthomosaic to print

JDL · Jul 8, 2021

Hey everyone, i've done several orthomosaic's but I would like to print one out for a client. Has anyone done this before and can you tell me what process works best. I'm assuming the data needed would be from the tif file. Thanks in advance.

MapMaker53 · Jul 8, 2021

Provide the .TIF file to a large format printing service and tell them the size print you need and what type of paper you would like it printed on. I'm assuming you need a large print. FedEx actually has printing centers that provide this service.

JDL · Jul 8, 2021

How large can you before you start losing image quality?

Dave Pitman · Jul 8, 2021

JDL said:
How large can you before you start losing image quality?

There are lots and lots of references. Here is a random one.

DPI For Printing - Design Resources

A comprehensive look at what resolution and dpi to use when and where. Applies to designers and photographers.

resources.printhandbook.com

MapMaker53 · Jul 9, 2021

It depends on the resolution quality of your ortho image, which depends on the altitude you flew your flight. A quick ballpark test you can do is simply zoom in on a small area of your ortho on your monitor. Not a great resolution? Then keep zooming out until you are happy with the detail you see on the screen. Then try to picture how large the rest of the ortho would be around your monitor at that scale. If it would be huge, a poster-size print for the client (say 24x36 inches) should be no problem for the resolution you are looking for.

R Martin · Jul 9, 2021

JDL said:
How large can you before you start losing image quality?

Depends upon what dpi the original image is. 72 dpi is not going to blow up much beyond the original image size. 600 dpi taken on a high resolution camera can be sectioned and printed out as a wall graphic if you have the Apple computing power (Windows based PCs cap the image size to ten feet in length. No limit on a Mac.) and printers that can handle the large format. Oh yes, and the time. I used to set a job up and come back in the next morning to run the next set. Takes hours to spool.

jaja6009 · Jul 10, 2021

JDL glad to see you have moved along and are now producing for clients!

I use Arcmap to do this. If you are still using Drone Deploy you can use the Arcmap App that produces tiled maps. This will bring over the tiles to ArcMap online and then you can bring it over to Arcmap. Or you could just bring over the tif, and have pyramids created. On Arcmap you can design a nice map in Layout mode with all of your normal Cartography items like North arrow, legend, business logo and the like. When you export to PDF it has been my experience that it chooses the best options to print to the paper size of your choosing going from standard to legal to large prints. I have printed a 48x36 inch work of art with it using its generated print settings.