Drone mapping turns planned aerial data collection into measurements, maps, models, and other geospatial products. This section covers mission design, image overlap, positioning, ground control, photogrammetry, LiDAR, point clouds, orthomosaics, elevation models, processing, and accuracy, with an emphasis on how capture decisions affect the final result.
Topic
Drone Mapping: Photogrammetry, LiDAR and Geospatial Workflows
Latest topic news
PX4 precision-landing proposal updates coordinates when EKF origin changes
PX4 PR 29711 describes a precision-landing target mapped from local NED coordinates to latitude and longitude that can become stale when EKF2 resets its navigation origin during GNSS-denied operations. The patch proposes refreshing that mapping.
Read newsPeer-reviewed ESCAPE swarm exploration revisited in new forest-flight reporting
New reporting on 8 November revisits the ESCAPE research from Tongji and partner universities, originally published in December 2025. Its authors tested three LiDAR quadcopters outdoors and four indoors with distributed task allocation; simulations compared the method against Racer and Role.
Read newsArduPilot proposes I2C support for the Pono TSD20 rangefinder
ArduPilot PR 35065 adds a proposed driver for the Pono TSD20 single-point LiDAR in I2C mode, with corresponding SITL simulator and autotest coverage; the proposal identifies rangefinder type 49.
Read newsStudy compares UAV photogrammetry and terrestrial scanning at an open-pit mine
A Measurement journal pre-proof available online on 3 November compares UAV-derived surface models with terrestrial laser scans at an active mine. The authors report a 0.50 m UAV DEM grid and volume-change deviations of 7.42% for a dump and 7.85% for a pit in the studied areas.
Read newsA 360-degree camera offers archaeological surveying when drone flight is restricted
A peer-reviewed paper published on 3 November describes a low-cost ground-based survey method using a spherical camera and ground control points at archaeological sites where drone photography is unavailable or restricted. The authors report photogrammetric results and comparisons with conventional survey sampling and drone-derived imagery.
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Higher-Altitude UAV LiDAR Moves the Bottleneck From Point Density to Calibration
Aerial lidar payloads are getting better at a job that used to force an uncomfortable compromise: stay low enough to preserve small-object detail, or climb high enough to cover a useful amount of ground per flight. New 2026 sensors from Ouster and RIEGL show how that boundary is moving. Both advertise tighter beams, longer useful range or higher sampling rates in UAV-sized packages.
Read articleGlobal Mapper Subscription Connects Drone Photogrammetry to the Field Workflow
Blue Marble Geographics' new Global Mapper subscription is easy to read as a licensing change. For drone mapping teams, the more consequential shift is architectural: photogrammetry, point-cloud work, geodetic processing, scripting, cartographic output and field distribution are being pulled into a more continuous workflow.
Read articleDrone-in-a-Box Grid Inspection Is Becoming an Operations Problem
Project VOLT in northwest England is a useful marker for where utility drones are heading. The aircraft is no longer the interesting part by itself. The harder system is everything around it: a permanent launch site, remote pilots, BVLOS procedures, live data delivery, automated defect analysis and a control-room workflow that turns an image into a repair decision.
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