Drone Photogrammetry Workflow: From Flight Plan to Deliverable
A drone photogrammetry job is five decisions in a row: what ground sampling distance you need, how much control you will place, how you will fly, how you will process, and how you will prove the result. Most failures come from skipping the first two. This is the workflow, with the check at each stage.
1. Plan: GSD, overlap and flight height
Start from the smallest thing the deliverable must show or measure and work back to a ground sampling distance, then to a flight height for your camera. The GSD calculator on this site does that arithmetic, including the footprint of one photo and the spacing between photos and lines for your overlaps.
Overlap of about 80 % forward and 70 % side is a common starting point; plan more over uniform or heavily vegetated ground, where there is little texture to match. Fly at a constant height above the terrain, not above the take-off point: on sloping sites the two can differ enough to change the GSD noticeably.
2. Control: ground control points and check points
Decide before you fly how the model will be tied to the ground. An RTK or PPK drone gives strong horizontal positions, but a systematic height offset against ground survey can remain until control points are applied. If height matters, place ground control points, and keep some surveyed points back as independent check points.
Paint targets large enough to be found automatically: at least about seven times the GSD across, for example 0.35 to 0.5 m at 4.7 cm GSD. Survey each target's centre in the coordinate system the deliverable will use.
3. Fly
Fly the grid with the camera pointing straight down, steady and sharp: motion blur, a wandering camera angle or clipped overlap cannot be fixed afterwards. Add a crossing set of lines or oblique photos if the site has steep faces, walls or structures that a straight-down grid sees poorly. Keep the photos together, unmodified, with their metadata.
4. Process
In Stream Capture, add the photo folders and read the health summary before anything runs: photo count, RTK-fixed share, blurred frames, missing positions, estimated overlap and the coverage map. Confirm the coordinate system, add the ground control file or choose No GCP, pick the products and a preset, and process. Fast Draft is a quick sanity check on site; Balanced is the everyday choice; Maximum writes full-resolution products.
| Stage | Decide | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | GSD, overlap, flight height above terrain | Footprint and photo count from the calculator |
| Control | Which points are control, which are check points | Targets at least ~7 × GSD across; coordinates in the right system |
| Fly | Direction, extra lines for steep faces | Sharp photos, no gaps in coverage |
| Process | Coordinate system, products, preset | Health summary before, log and warnings after |
| Prove | What accuracy statement you will make | Check RMS at independent points; overlap map; honesty masks |
5. Check and deliver
Open the Quality Report. Read the check RMS, the error at points the model never saw, not the GCP RMS, which only says how well the model fits the points it was forced through. Look at the overlap map for weak areas and at the honesty masks for filled cells, then hand over the orthophoto, elevation models, point cloud and the PDF report with your company name and logo.
Frequently asked questions
How do you do photogrammetry with a drone?
Plan a ground sampling distance and overlap, place and survey control points, fly an overlapping grid with the camera pointing down, process the photos in photogrammetry software, then check the result at independent check points and deliver.
What overlap should I use for drone photogrammetry?
About 80 % forward and 70 % side is a common starting point. Use more over uniform or vegetated ground, where there is little texture to match, and check the overlap map after processing.
How high should I fly for photogrammetry?
As high as your target GSD allows, at a constant height above the terrain. Lower flights give a smaller GSD but need many more photos: halving the height needs about four times as many.
Do I need ground control points?
Not for a map that only has to look right. If the result must match coordinates and heights on the ground, yes, or at least check points to measure the offset.
How long does processing take?
It depends on your GPU, photo count and preset.
Process a flight and read the quality report
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