Those who are "processing" your own images (stitching) etc for mapping. . .

[BigAl07]

I don't do enough to subscribe Pix4D (yet) and until NC gets their act together and quits trying to process those of us doing photogrammetry I'm not going to do a lot of marketing/investing for this service. But (isn't there always a but?) I need a new laptop and I'm trying to decide if it's feasible to go ahead and get one robust enough to do the processing for me.

Right now I use MapsMadeEasy and it does a good job and my clients like the finished product/data but there is a per map cost associated. I'm just weighing my options and trying to see what others are using for creating maps other than MME or Pix4D.

What stitching software are you using and why?

Thanks in advance,
Allen

 

[WildDoktor]

WebODM.

I'm just getting into this, so I have no clients...so I'm not paying for a service. I'm currently trying WebODM, which runs in a docker container on my new, fairly beefy, PC. A project with 255 photos, at full res, takes a little over an hour.

I'm also using Microsoft ICE for the 360 panos, and it works splendidly.

 

[BigAl07]

My projects recently average between 500 and 900 images so not incredibly large so if they could process over night I'd be golden with that.

 

[WildDoktor]

If you have the funds, you'll never regret getting a laptop powerful enough to process these...even if you never process any! Moar horsepower is always gooder!

 

[BigAl07]

If you have the funds, you'll never regret getting a laptop powerful enough to process these...even if you never process any! Moar horsepower is always gooder!

That's my idea too I really should just "do it" because my current laptop is 8 years old so I've gotten the GOOD out of it many times over now. I guess I'm off to research laptops now

 

[R Martin]

Alan,
An alternative to Pix4D is SimActive Correlator3D. It trialed both of them. Correlator3D was actually faster than Pix4D a little easier to use. At the time Pix4D was able to provide us with the deliverables in the coordinate system we needed without any additional Python coding (I don't write code). Both are good packages; just personal preference/ease of use.
That being said, and I was poo pood in another thread on this but buy the software first. Build the machine to the software. The two above handle processing differently. One requires a beefier graphics card because that is where it is doing the heavy lifting and the other requires more RAM because it handles the operations on the motherboard.
Learned that the hard way with my Dell workstation. It worked fine for the Inspire and small jobs. It wasn't able to handle the large jobs in one lifetime though which required another large chunk of cash on a new machine (Alienware). Scale of operation and also expandability. Think long term.

 

[AMann]

not good for portability, but a desktop is a lot less expensive when you include GPUs and all that for image processing.

 

[Dave Pitman]

I use Agisoft Metashape and with my larger projects being about 1200 20mpix images my laptop with the following spec is sufficient. I'm not doing these every week.

• I7 10750H
• 32GB RAM
• RTX2070
• 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD

If you want to research what hardware will best run a particular software package, you can't do better than to check out Puget Systems recommendations. No purchase necessary.

Workstations for Photogrammetry & GIS

Puget Systems builds photogrammetry workstation PCs optimized for performance in a wide range of applications. Select your software to begin.

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[TreeLineView]

I don't do enough to subscribe Pix4D (yet) and until NC gets their act together and quits trying to process those of us doing photogrammetry I'm not going to do a lot of marketing/investing for this service. But (isn't there always a but?) I need a new laptop and I'm trying to decide if it's feasible to go ahead and get one robust enough to do the processing for me.

Right now I use MapsMadeEasy and it does a good job and my clients like the finished product/data but there is a per map cost associated. I'm just weighing my options and trying to see what others are using for creating maps other than MME or Pix4D.

What stitching software are you using and why?

Thanks in advance,
Allen

Alan,
Doesn't MME now offer a 1 year subscription? Seemed to be a good deal. A lot better than what I pay for pro subscription of DD.

 

[Snowghost]

I agree. M$ ICE works very well for Panos.

 

[BigAl07]

Alan,
Doesn't MME now offer a 1 year subscription? Seemed to be a good deal. A lot better than what I pay for pro subscription of DD.

Wow I did not know this. I just looked and you're right!! WOW! I could have save some $$ last month if I had known LOL

I need to sit down and run the #'s and figure out which one is the best for our frequency and size of maps.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Allen, another thing to keep in mind with MME, is that they do not have a true GCP workflow option if you ever need that. I've used them since 2015 and the results are very good when their deliverables fit the project requirements. General ortho imagery and DSMs for stockpile estimates and relative topography is fine. If you have a project that actually needs tied to a coordinate system there is no realistic path to do that. They have what they call a GCP workflow. But I would call it a "pseudo gcp workflow" because it is really only meant to help you line up maps captured at different times, or to line up with Google Earth basemaps. But it is not a precise workflow sufficient to integrate with other surveyed deliverables. It is a good affordable option when working within it's capabilities. To their credit, they are transparent about this and don't claim otherwise.

 

[BigAl07]

Thanks Dave

At this stage and because I'm in North Carolina I am only doing this for "Marketing and Progress Tracking" and nothing that can be tied into other deliverables. Once this case with the case of Board of Surveying and Engineering of NC VS Michael R. Jones goes through the court system (now scheduled for Feb 2022) this may change (fingers crossed). But right now we are just doing Aerial Imagery and nothing "Survey" related in any capacity. If that makes sense LOL

 

[R Martin]

Thanks Dave

At this stage and because I'm in North Carolina I am only doing this for "Marketing and Progress Tracking" and nothing that can be tied into other deliverables. Once this case with the case of Board of Surveying and Engineering of NC VS Michael R. Jones goes through the court system (now scheduled for Feb 2022) this may change (fingers crossed). But right now we are just doing Aerial Imagery and nothing "Survey" related in any capacity. If that makes sense LOL

What a crock. We don't do surveying because no-one in the office has a stamp from the state but we provide mapping services @ centimeter grade. I know a lot of people throw the term survey around without having a clue what is involved but this is really overreach.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Once this case with the case of Board of Surveying and Engineering of NC VS Michael R. Jones goes through the court system (now scheduled for Feb 2022) this may change (fingers crossed).

Al, please keep us up to date on how this progresses. In Washington, I was initially (2015) bombarded by the Surveyor's Assoc. but after studying our state regs and standing my ground, they have let up. Since then I've actually supplied data to lic'd surveyors. Hopefully common sense rather than market protection and greed will prevail in NC.

 

[BigAl07]

I've spoken with the "Defendant" (Michael R. Jones) a few times about this case. He's optimistic yet grounded knowing that usually $$ talks in these cases.

I am hopeful Common Sense (which has left the building in our society lately) will prevail and we can build this process even more within our business.

 

[R Martin]

I've spoken with the "Defendant" (Michael R. Jones) a few times about this case. He's optimistic yet grounded knowing that usually $$ talks in these cases.

I am hopeful Common Sense (which has left the building in our society lately) will prevail and we can build this process even more within our business.

Common sense is definitely lacking in society today but there are still people that have it in the courts and other apparatus. And you are right about the money talking...the latest example is UTM...

 

[Dave Pitman]

..the latest example is UTM...

Agreed. UTM makes perfect sense for fleet, BVLOS operations. For small LOS operations it's complete overkill. There is not even an equivalent in manned aviation (for example, ADS-B is not required everywhere).

Sorry for the O/T

 

[BigAl07]

Agreed. UTM makes perfect sense for fleet, BVLOS operations. For small LOS operations it's complete overkill. There is not even an equivalent in manned aviation (for example, ADS-B is not required everywhere).

Sorry for the O/T

Any of my threads are always welcome to go O/T and we all learn together

 

[Fred Garvin]

Any of my threads are always welcome to go O/T and we all learn together

Sometimes a topic can bring up a side issue, that is extremely important. It is because of this I placed a disclaimer on my website regarding images that we provide...though I've not been approached by any licensing authority, its just a CYA (as best I can) so there's no mistaking any representation of usability.