Analyzing Drone-Collected Data in Global Mapper Pro
As drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) become more accessible, so does the capture of new geospatial data. The advanced tools in Global Mapper Pro provide post-processing and analysis of drone-collected data from photogrammetric point cloud creation to classification and terrain analysis.
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Machine learning techniques can be applied to customize automatic unique features that are not part of the standard feature set. Global Mapper Pro’s award-winning Custom Classification Training tool enables the creation of custom classifications to identify target features within a point cloud automatically.
Global Mapper provides an easy-to-use solution to identify possible vegetation encroachment before plant life contacts utilities. Using lidar or other point cloud data, it is possible to identify potential hazards before going into the field for a ground inspection.
To penetrate dense canopies, foresters use lidar data in Global Mapper Pro to map bare ground elevation values and visualize forest density, crown coverage, and tree heights. Measuring forests from lidar, helps foresters have a better understanding of existing stand dynamics at a fraction of the labor costs.
Global Mapper Pro can thin point clouds, classify, and extract features. Confidence in positional accuracy is a vital component of point clouds as the clouds are often the basis for analysis and derived data products. Adjusting a point cloud to match the position of ground control points (GCPs) collected with a high-accuracy GPS unit or fitting it against another overlapping point cloud with an established position, can help mitigate positional accuracy issues.
High-resolution DEMs (digital elevation models) created from lidar have become a very valuable part of the verification and prospecting of potential archaeological features across a landscape. Lidar can see through vegetation, exposing features in the terrain such as burial mounds, linear and circular earthworks, sunken roads, agricultural terraces, ridge and furrow fields, and more.
Golf course maintenance requires extensive planning, agriculture, and attention to detail. Global Mapper Pro and its mobile application can provide a detailed insight into the land under management. Surveys and inspections in the field can be managed in a spatial database to measure usage and wear over time.
