Lab 4

Intro

Lab 4's goal was to create a digital surface model or DSM. To do this, we used Pix4D, which is a photogrammetry software. Pix4D is an excellent tool for UAS pilots to use to create maps and orthomosaics as well as different configurations of data. Pix4D is also useful because of its ability to create data reports so you can see the areas that don't have enough data. This allows the pilot to collect more data in those areas. It also allows for different levels of processing that produce different levels of data and speed. Of course the faster you process the data the lower the quality is going to be. 

Process 

To complete the processing quickly and to show more detail, we only worked with a partial section.  when the data is first imported, it is important to make sure that the coordinate system reference is the same as the coordinates from the data set. It is also important to check that other data is matching as well. to first start processing this data, you'll import your images and start initial processing. This will generate an initial point cloud of locations that Pix4D recognizes. Pix4D failed to process some of the data the didn't have a proper overlap. To correct this, you have to manually triangulate the points to help fill in the gaps. You then realign and recalculated the data and Pix4D gives you a nice looking DSM.

Results

We took the data from Pix4D and color and shade it the same way we did in project 3 to show the comparison. the difference is that this week's clip does not have the ground control points like last weeks. Even without the GCPs, Pix4D did a good job of calculating the elevation. Pix4D is an awesome tool to turn ordinary pictures into many different forms of information.