Comparing Drone2Map versus Pix4Dmapper when Creating Orthophoto Mosaics over Homogeneous Land Features

Authors

Victoria Williams, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow
Daniel R. Unger, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow
David Kulhavy, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow
I-Kuai Hung, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow
Yanli Zhang, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow

Corresponding Author

Daniel R. Unger

Abstract

This study evaluated two popular software packages currently used within the natural resources profession to create orthophoto mosaics: Drone2Map and Pix4Dmapper. Of particular concern was how effective these two software packages would perform in creating orthophoto mosaics over a city park in East Texas consisting of forest, open grass, and urban concrete surrounding a lake. Two drone flights over the city park were conducted. One flight was at 76 meters (250 feet) above ground with a single pass configuration. The other flight was at 122 meters (400 feet) above ground with a double pass configuration. Upon the completion of each drone flight, two orthophoto mosaics were created for each flight using all images acquired per flight with Drone2Map and Pix4Dmapper software. For the single pass configuration Drone2Map failed to complete a basic orthophoto mosaic. For the double pass configuration Drone2Map did improve within the forest, grass and urban concrete areas surrounding the lake, but it was not able to identify tie points within the homogeneous lake surface resulting in void areas in the center of the lake. Pix4Dmapper was an improvement over Drone2Map for the single pass configuration, and performed better than Drone2Map in the forest, grass and urban concrete areas, but it also failed to identify tie points within the homogeneous lake. Pix4Dmapper for the double pass configuration was able to produce a complete orthophoto mosaic for all land features within the study area including the homogeneous lake. These results indicate that when a drone is flown in a double grid pattern Pix4Dmapper will produce a complete orthophoto mosaic, even over homogenous areas like a small lake, when compared to Drone2Map.

Recommended Citation

Williams, Victoria; Unger, Daniel R.; Kulhavy, David; Hung, I-Kuai; and Zhang, Yanli (2023) "Comparing Drone2Map versus Pix4Dmapper when Creating Orthophoto Mosaics over Homogeneous Land Features," International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research: Vol. 10: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://dc.uwm.edu/ijger/vol10/iss1/2