Seattle Maptime

Making Maps with Drone (Part 1 ?)

March 6 , 2025

Peter Keum, GISP

King County Wastewater Treatment

Drone Program Lead/ GIS Analyst

Learning Objectives

Drone hardware & regulations
Imagery processing software & workflows.
Affordable aerial imagery generation.

Understand & Learn

Part 1

Introduction
Regulation
Hardware
Software

Part 2

Work flow
Products
More....

Text

CUGOS

King County Wastewater Treatment by Numbers

2 million residents
424 square miles
383 miles sewer pipeline (2.5 inch to 14 ft)
74 facilities (PS & RS)
5 Treatment Plants: 180 MGD ~ Max. 900 MGD

Seattle, WA --> Medford, OR

WTD GIS

Maintain Sewer GIS Data

FIRS (Facility Information Retrieval System) Data
- Maintenance Hole
- Pipes
- Pump Stations
- Regulator Stations
- Treatment Plants
- Outfalls
Flow Monitors
CP Stations
Connection Points
Site Plan Data
3D Models
Drone Collected Data
.... many many more

WTD

GIS

DATA

WTD GIS

WTD

King County

GIS

Data Library

There are 17 county agencies support King County GIS Data Library System

WLRD

Assessor

Road

Many More

+

+

So Let's Dive In!

Short Back Story

David Shean "Ice Man"

CUGOS April 2014

"Google Guys"

It's just a toy...past examples of what used to be

It's just a toy...

2016

Price /Performance
Easy to use
Quality data collection
Adopting Rule by FAA

Why Now?

Cell Phone Technology + Lower $$

Electronic Control System (ECS)
Accelerometer & Gyroscope Chip
GPS Chip
Lithium Polymer (LiPo) Battery
Motors

Integrated gyroscopic/GPS Chip in 2000's = $10,000

In 2017 = $3

1981 $120,000

2013

$5 - $15

In 2025 = $3 (??) less than $1

UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

FAA Definition: Unmanned Aircraft (UA) system that is operated by a pilot via ground control or on-board computer.

What's in the name?

UAV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UAS = Unmanned Aerial System

DRONE = Dynamic Remotely Operated Navigation Equipment

RPAS = Remotely Piloted Aircraft System

Policy Paper for Civilian Missions

UAV Categories

Small - $

Size: 1 - 2 meters ( 3 ft - 6.5 ft), < 55 lbs.
Control: Radio control

Medium

Size: Equivalent to a car, ~ 1000 lbs.
Control: Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) & Beyond LOS, RC & Satellite ~ $$$

Large

Size: > 30,000 lbs.
Control: Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) & Beyond LOS, RC & Satellite ~ $$$$

Sensors Payload

Multi-spectral

Thermal Infrared

Lidar Camera

High resolution digital camera (100 MP)

Lidar Camera

Methane Gas Dector

RPAS as Platform

Multi-rotors

Fixed-wing & VTOL

Shorter flight time (< 45 min)
Cover smaller area
Highly maneuverable
Less expensive
Access to confined spaces

Long flight time (+ 40min)
Covers very large area

(vertical take-off & land)

1. Aircraft + Sensor (Data Collection)

2. Data Processing & Analyzing (GIS)

3. Information Products

||

+

Information Products

credit: Esri

Drone

GIS

Great Combo?

&

Great combo !

GIS & DRONE

FAA Regulations - Where are we now?

Regulations

Fly under 400 feet above ground level
Not to fly < 5 nautical miles around airport
Aircraft < 55 lbs.
Fly during daytime
Fly visual line of sight ( VLOS)
No flight over non-participating people

FAA Part 107 Rule

Hobby/Recreation

Self register (over 13 yrs old)

Fly under 400 feet above ground level
Not to fly < 5 nautical miles around airport
Aircraft < 55 lbs.
Fly during daytime
Fly visual line of sight ( VLOS)

Less than 250 grams (0.55 lbs) - No need to register with FAA
More than 250 grams register with FAA $5.00

FAA Part 107 Drone Certification

Be at least 16 yrs old
Pass the initial aeronautical knowledge exam
Online recurring training every 24 month

The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST)

Understand recreational flying requirements
Take TRUST
Online recurring training every 24 month

Part 1

Introduction
Hardware
Software
Regulation

Part 2

Work flow
Products
More....

1. Platform + Sensor (Data Collection)

2. Data Processing & Analyzing (GIS)

3. Information Products

Part 2: Work Flow

Dronelink

DroneDeploy

1. Platform + Sensor (Data Collection)

2. Data Processing & Analyzing (GIS)

3. Information Products

Part 2: Work Flow

Structure from Motion (SfM)

Part 2: Data Processing

SfM uses overlapping drone photos to reconstruct a 3D model by identifying common points and calculating their position

Photogrammetry = taking measurement from photos

Part 2: Data Processing

Drone Photogrammetry is the process of using drone-captured images to create accurate 3D models or/and maps of the real world

Drone Photogrammetry

Data Processing

Input Sequences in DD

Ground Control Points

Increase accuracy of drone map

GCP's make your map accurate BUT do not let you know HOW accurate the map is.

Ground Control Points

RTK = Real-Time Kinematic

Workflow Example

Whidbey Island, Langley Downtown example

Aaron Racicot

Step 1. Flight with Data Collection

Collected 200 Images
Using Agisoft PhotoScan to stich images
Alt. Tool - Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE)

Step 2. Data Processing

QGIS to georeference aerial imagery export to tiff file
Using GDAL
Or use mbutili to export into tiles

gdal2tiles.py --profile=mercator -z 1-22 yourmap.tif outputfolder

Step 3. Information Product 1

Create web-map using GitHub's gh-page

git checkout gh-pages
git add outputfolder
git commit -m "Yes... TILE DATA"
git push

Step 3A. Information Product 2

Using imagery to digitize street, add features to OSM

Add below url into OpenStreetMap iD Editor

http://langleywa.github.io/gisdata/tiles/langley-2nd-street-2014-tms/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

1. Mission Planning

2. Data Processing

3. Information Products

Part 3: Work Flow Guide

Pix4D
DroneDeploy
DJI Fly/Pilot

Pix4D
DroneDeploy
Metashape
SiteScan

2. Data Processing

Part 3: Work Step Guide

Pix4D
DroneDeploy
Metashape
SiteScan

WebODM

2. Data Processing

Part 3: Work Step Guide

Pix4D
DroneDeploy
Metashape
SiteScan

MapsMadeEasy

2. Data Processing

Part 3: Work Step Guide

Pix4D
DroneDeploy
Metashape
SiteScan

PTGui

MapsMadeEasy

2. Data Processing

Part 3: Work Step Guide

SiteScan
DroneDeploy

Demo example

"First do it, then do it right, then do it better."

Credit: Addy Osmani

Saw it from Lyzi Diamond (one of the founder of Maptime)

Doing is Learning, but...

Doing with mistakes?

It's still learning!

A

B

L

Always

Be

Learning

C

Tobin Bradley, Mecklenburg County, NC

Tools

(Future Talk)

Washington GIS Association

Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)

Special Interest Group

Monthly Meeting - Every 3rd Thursday over Zoom
Share resources online
Help educate and introduce new users to the field of drone mapping and GIS

CUGOS

Cascadia

Users

of

Geospatial

Open

Source

(Community)

March 6 ,2025

Resource Link

END

for now

peter.keum@kingcounty.gov

Seattle Maptime

Making Maps with Drone (Part 1 ?)

March 6 , 2025

Learning Objectives

Understand & Learn

Part 1

Part 2

WTD GIS

Maintain Sewer GIS Data

WTD GIS

Short Back Story

"Google Guys"

It's just a toy...past examples of what used to be

It's just a toy...

It's just a toy...

It's just a toy...

2016

Why Now?

Cell Phone Technology + Lower $$

UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

FAA Definition: Unmanned Aircraft (UA) system that is operated by a pilot via ground control or on-board computer.

What's in the name?

UAV Categories

Sensors Payload

RPAS as Platform

Drone

GIS

&

Great combo !

GIS & DRONE

FAA Regulations - Where are we now?

Regulations

Fly under 400 feet above ground level

Not to fly < 5 nautical miles around airport

Aircraft < 55 lbs.

Fly during daytime

Fly visual line of sight ( VLOS)

No flight over non-participating people

FAA Part 107 Rule

Hobby/Recreation

Self register (over 13 yrs old)

Fly under 400 feet above ground level

Not to fly < 5 nautical miles around airport

Aircraft < 55 lbs.

Fly during daytime

Fly visual line of sight ( VLOS)

Be at least 16 yrs old

Pass the initial aeronautical knowledge exam

Online recurring training every 24 month

Part 1

Part 2

Part 2: Work Flow

Dronelink

DroneDeploy

Part 2: Work Flow

Drone Photogrammetry is the process of using drone-captured images to create accurate 3D models or/and maps of the real world

Drone Photogrammetry

Ground Control Points

Ground Control Points

Workflow Example

Step 1. Flight with Data Collection

Step 2. Data Processing

Step 3. Information Product 1

Step 3A. Information Product 2

Part 3: Work Flow Guide

Part 3: Work Step Guide

Part 3: Work Step Guide

Part 3: Work Step Guide

Part 3: Work Step Guide

"First do it, then do it right, then do it better."

Doing is Learning, but...

Doing with mistakes?

It's still learning!

A

B

L

C

Tools

CUGOS

Cascadia