Drones are taking a significant role in mapping projects of various sizes, many drone personnel are presented with varying projects and demands from clients, and if not careful they end up making the same deadly mistakes as they undertake the mapping exercise. Flying a drone is one thing and successfully executing a drone mapping exercise is another. Join us as we take you through some deadly mistakes you must never make.
Ignoring Accuracy
It is very important that you pay strict attention to the accuracy needs of your project; is it a high-accuracy job or just a low-accuracy job for example an engineering project will require high accuracies in a few centimeters yet an environmental monitoring project can do with a few meters.
It can’t be mapped with the accuracy factor. Some drone mapping outputs are aesthetically pleasing but the accuracy factor is off. It is very important to understand the accuracy requirements of each project as it will influence your mapping workflow.
Not Understanding Client’s Needs
This is a common but deadly mistake that most drone mappers make. Every project is very different so are the client’s needs. It is very important that you fully understand the client’s needs and deliverables before embarking on the project. What is it that the client needs?
Some clients don’t exactly know what they want, for example, they will just tell you they want an aerial photo when they want more than just an aerial map but a detailed topographic map showing all present features, contours, etc. It is very important that you take time to fully understand what the client needs and even to educate them on the right deliverables or needs.
No / Inadequate Flight Planning
Failure to plan is planning to fail, don’t make that mistake like others. It is very important that you take adequate planning for your mapping exercise that includes your flight parameters, approvals, proper equipment and backup equipment, accessories, storage space, etc. During the planning phase, you can also look at your budgets and expected time frames. Lack of proper planning often results in poor outputs, reworks, and getting out of budgets and projections. Make sure you also plan with the right flight parameters that ensure you get the best and desired outputs.
Lack of Proper & Inadequate Processing Software
Drone mapping often goes beyond data acquisition but transcends processing and analysis. It is important that you get the proper software to use for the processing and analysis of your drone data. The personnel should also be knowledgeable enough to use the software to get the desired output. Most of these software are often paid for and require high-end computing power though now there are some cloud computing capabilities with some software but this all needs to be considered.
Poor Costing
Just because the drones seem to make the process fast and easy doesn’t necessarily mean it should be cheap. Poor costing is often bad for the project and business at large. It is important to do a proper costing and pricing of the project to ensure that the project is a success.
