DJI Terra is a simple mapping software designed to help you turn drone data into digital assets. It is designed to create detailed 2D and 3D images based on the data collected by your drone. DroneDeploy is an easy-to-use mapping software that both novice and advanced users can use effectively. It has exclusive products such as the Field Scanner application, which allows farmers to generate real-time maps during a flight and quickly access NDVI maps, all without Internet access.
The DroneDeploy App Market allows you to use third-party sockets, such as Autodesk, Airmap, Kittyhawk, Agremo and more. This 3D modeling and mapping software is available both for individual users and for mobile applications and for business customers with any number of users. The DroneDeploy business platform will allow you to do just about anything, from managing hundreds of users and flights to creating your own custom applications. Pix4D is a versatile software aimed at more advanced users. Its high-resolution capabilities allow you to recover the elevation and even the temperature value of each pixel to create highly accurate maps.
Pix4D is ideal for business users, whether it's a commercial flight with a single drone or a large company with a full fleet of drones and users. Its versatility also means that it can connect with other platforms (for example, for agriculture, construction, etc.). By far the most popular software platform for drone mapping that you can download and use for free is WebODM. This is an open source software that has been around for a few years and has been greatly improved by its active user community.
If you're tech-savvy enough, you can even modify the program's code to suit your needs. Pix4D Capture is a powerful and easy-to-use software package that helps organizations map and model the world based on their aerial images. The software works directly with drone images and uses its patented cloud processing engine to provide users with quick results. Regardless of whether you are an independent traveler or a corporate entity that uses drones for various tasks, cartography is one of the biggest uses of drone technology to date. A natural drawback of using QGIS for drone mapping is that it cannot process the data collected by the drone. Fortunately, there are a handful of drone mapping software packages on the market that can help process and convert drone data.
Using free drone mapping software is a good idea if you're just starting out or if you just want to dive into the field of drone mapping. Pix4D also has a mobile application (Pix4DCapture) to automate the mapping process with compatibility not only with DJI drones but also with Parrot drones. Pix4D offers free trials of some of the most popular products, of which the most notable for drone mapping are the Pix4Dmapper for data processing and the Pix4DCatch for terrestrial LiDAR surveys. It won't provide a solution for drone mapping on its own, but it perfectly complements almost any other drone mapping software. With the DJI GS Pro, you can easily define the extent of your target reconnaissance area and the application will automatically generate flight routes for the drone to follow. Read this case study on using drone maps to create an extremely accurate topographic study before the development of a subdivision in northern Colorado.
