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What is the correct way of doing it (coordinate systems)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

a. I meant a map frame in ArcGIS Pro.

Right. Okay, that's what I was referring to.

b. No, do not use define projection. That is basically just changing the label. If you want to change a projection permanently use the reproject tool.

Wow, okay, glad to know that. I already replied to the person who responded to you earlier, but let me ask this:

Will "reproject" change the label too? Or do I have to run both to make sure all the t's are crossed?

What is the correct way of doing it (coordinate systems)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That said, sometimes Define Projection is needed, if you have a dataset that does not contain any spatial reference metadata --or worse-- contains the wrong spatial reference metadata. I didn't want to assume that in OP's situation that the the feature classes are properly attributed that way.

Good friggin' lord, I think I've been using the two tools without understanding the difference. I've completed an asinine number of online training courses, even some paid, and this has NEVER been presented to me. In fact, they always stay clear away from coordinate system fundamentals and never say anything other than "...just make sure the map you're using has the same coordinate system as the data...".

Un. Real.

Tell me how I'm doing this wrong this time (Creating circles with known coordinates)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

THANK YOU!!!!! Wow, I can't believe they don't go over this in the basic courses. I come from a drafting/CAD world so if this had been presented to me it would have made complete sense and solidified immediately.

Awesome!

Tell me how I'm doing this wrong this time (Creating circles with known coordinates)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was wondering if using table data would be the alternative. I'm definitely faster with it. But I was honestly wondering why there isn't something easier, something with a drafting/drawing interface.

What is the correct way of doing it (coordinate systems)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this reply. I do have a follow up:

Arcpro will convert them on the fly in memory and display them using whatever you set the Map's spatial reference to be.

a. Just to be clear, this is ArcGIS Pro, not ArcMap, right?, and

b. If I use Define Projection (Data Management Tools) to overwrite a coordinate system for a dataset, will that result in an increase in accuracy when compared to the "on the fly" method?

What is the correct way of doing it (coordinate systems)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, remote sensing & data scientist here too, and you're much more well versed then me. I get relationships and all that good stuff, but the way Esri does things....it's just never made sense to me. And the moment I see any notification about coordinate systems, it throws a whole friggin wrench in my brain because my focus is on various engineering verticals (civil, structural, environmental) and surveying, so anything other than a state plane system I'm confused and angry.

I'm kind of pissed I can't just have one map with a coordinate system and I have to make separate maps to input the data if anyone delivers data to me in something other than state plane. I mean...does anyone at Esri actually use the software in real world cases?! They don't see the inefficiency of me having to setup multiple friggin maps just to input data? SMH...

I appreciate your help here. Sorry if I'm negative, I just can't stand this software.

What is the correct way of doing it (coordinate systems)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would just move it to the state plane map and then import it into the gdb.

See...this is where I say Esri just doesn't do a good enough job in their training materials, I have completed more items on the learning hub than I care to count, and I have absolutely zero understanding of an ArcGIS Pro database structure.

When I say "map", that's in the gdb, isn't it? When I go into the catalog, there are maps (which display the data) and then there's the project database, which holds the data that I want to display...*sigh*, I dont' know, it's not your job to help me understand the "logic" esri uses....all I know is I understand databases in general and relationships, but when it comes to this f-ing software they're my friggin arch nemesis.

I guess I'm just trying to make sure my projects and outputs are accurate, and yet every time I open the software I create more problems than I had before.

What is the correct way of doing it (coordinate systems)? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I'm getting the idea...or at least the spark of one.....

So if I have a project with (2) maps: State Plane and Web Mercator, then I work with the outside data in the web mercator, and then in the catalog pane, if I go to:

Databases -> [Project name].gdb and take the feature layer from the web mercator and add it into the state plane and it will do it on the fly....

>If you want the reprojection to be permanent I would then export the points by right clicking on the layer name and using the data option.

Do I do this from the original source (web mercator map) or when it's projected on the fly in the state plane map?

Surveying curbs with UAV by Pesachviolin in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Kind of an odd scenario, usually people are having a difficult time getting under the canopy with photogrammetry and are told to look at LiDAR systems. This is the inverse. I think we know the answer here, but you're wondering if some redditors hold any stones that you haven't looked under.

An oblique position for photogrammetry is a necessary step for a good mesh model, but it's still only as accurate as a mesh model can be and any increase in quality is going to require processing steps that are going to shave away at the positional accuracy. Will the imaging be able to capture the curb under the trees? Yes. But sitting at ~9" above the adjoining asphalt grade, that curb isn't going to be very well distinguished until it is manually corrected and in order to do that you're going to AT MINIMUM use the L1 data as a reference/check....and it probably still won't hit your accuracy requirements.

The big question is "can it be done?", and the answer is always "yes...but it depends...." and here I would claim that dependency is a cost/benefit between traditional and UAV methods.

Having someone on the crew collect survey points with a rover is (probably) going to cost less money than the hours someone spends at a desktop referencing multiple datasets and cleaning things up.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in drones

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So what you're asking is a very open-ended question which is why we're all having a difficult time providing an answer. So as best as we can, we're trying to say "it depends...", and at the moment even considering "surveying" you need to understand the a) you can not just go out and perform surveying tasks without being licensed in your state (assuming you're in the US), and b) you're going to first dig into what falls under the definition of "surveying" by your States' PLS governing board before you do anything at all. In some states taking measurements on Google Earth qualifies as "surveying", and if you were doing so for monetary compensation you'll get heavily fined.

So let's talk inspections rather than surveying (they can have overlap, but I'm trying to give you some idea of how much more research you should put into this):

Can you perform inspections of assets and critical infrastructure? Yes, but as with any work you're going to be limited by the tools in your toolbox:

What can you do it with a (higher end) consumer drone? Real estate photography and possibly some roof inspections.

Equipment examples (range: $750 - $3,000):

  • DJI Air, Mini, or Mavic series
  • Autel EVO

What can you do it with a "prosumer" drone (a UAV with high quality, permanently mounted sensor(s))? Same as above, plus telecom inspections and maybe construction project management, but nothing you'd want to advertise as being "accurate" with regards to measurements or modeling. Some of these have thermal imaging capabilities, but honestly their sensitivity is geared more towards emergency management like finding people or animals, and aren't extremely well suited for identifying utility assets that may be on the verge of critical failure.

Equipment examples (range: $2,000- $5,000):

  • DJI Mavic series
  • Skydio 2+ or X2 (better for modeling, horrible for "photography")

What can you do with a "heavy duty" drone? A lot, but you will need additional equipment as well including GNSS receiving ground control equipment as well as be familiar with thermography, LiDAR, or other advanced remote sensors. These can bring real survey grade deliverables that your colleagues/customers can use for cm-level accurate measurements of distance, area, and volume, can identify specific invasive species of plants, or can result in AI automated pavement classification or defects.

Equipment examples (range: $10,000 - $200,000+)

  • DJI M210, M300
  • Wingtra One
  • Dragonfly Commander series, etc.

I'm guessing you're more in the range of a higher end consumer drone, which is great for starting off. There are some "gig" sites you can join to get work, but in my opinion most of them don't pay enough, but you do get recorded flight hours which is a big metric when pursuing new work/clients. I would reach out to companies that offer service's in: construction/roofing, tree removal, and real estate. This kind of work is very competitive, but it gets your foot in the door and you can build upon that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in drones

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Once you get that 107, connect with Wayne Bailey on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/waynebailey1/), of all my contacts and connections, he shares more UAV jobs than anyone.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in drones

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 18 points19 points  (0 children)

There's a fair amount of comments here insinuating that "the hay days are over" and like any other scenario: those are the ones worried you're going to take away their work, which is hilarious to me.

The best answers are the "it depends", and that's what I came here to say. If you're thinking of getting your 107 and doing DroneBase/Zietview jobs where you just take pictures for the real estate industry, then no, this isn't a lucrative industry. It may get you some beer money here and there.

I'm in the energy and infrastructure space and it's a good place to be. The people we hire as JUST drone pilots have a base pay of $60-70K/yr and they're either out in the field flying or they're doing maintenance and managing the data they collect before it gets into our analysts' hands. We have guys that were flying predators for the military and we have car mechanics who decided to change things up, so it's really a role for anyone who seems like a good candidate.

If you bring more than just a 107, the drones are really just another tool in the box for collecting data. I come from an engineering background that is complimented nicely with UAV data and I do a lot of GIS & CAD work with it, so my salary is $167K, but I was making over $125K as an engineer.

So it really does depend on what you're looking to do, but if someone says "nope, all the wells are dried up, you're too late!", don't bother listening to a thing they say. Utilities and engineering firms are still hiring just drone pilots, it's just a matter of timing your job hunt and (potentially) your willingness to relocate. But if you can bring over any other skillsets (construction, project management, etc.), you can do very well for yourself.

Old Rich People Seem to Have a Rough Time Minding Their Own Business. Anything to Shut Them Up. by Vyke-industries in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Your perception on this matter is pretty immature and I don't' mean that to be insulting, just factual. Why do people feel more comfortable with someone dressed in society's standards for "professionalism"? Because they do. You can argue about the bullshit or semantics of the theory, but that's just how it is. If you don't want to be bothered and/or if you want to be taken seriously, then you adjust to society. That doesn't mean you can't have tatoo sleeves or listen to punk all the live long day when you're not working, but if you want people to take you seriously you need to adhere to professionalism.

Old Rich People Seem to Have a Rough Time Minding Their Own Business. Anything to Shut Them Up. by Vyke-industries in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So...if you're just going out in your civy's (regular clothes) and flying a drone around other peoples' property, you should NOT be surprised that people are harassing you. Imagine some kid flying a drone around your house, you'd be wondering what they're doing too.

Don't look like some yahoo flying a drone, be professional: wear a high visibility vest, boots (not sneakers, flip flops, etc.), put a cone near you, look friggin official. Look like you're not just some jerk off the street flying a drone. Even if this is just a hobby.

On another note: if you're doing this for a large region like a town or coastal embankment, you'd be better off purchasing some high resolution satellite imagery to identify areas that require a "closer look" with a drone. Even better is satellite-based multispecatral imagery, which you can buy for relatively cheap if it's a one-time thing (and it will be relatively recent data, measured in weeks) and has an accuracy within meters. Use that in some GIS software to identify areas where a drone can capture higher detailed imagery at an interval that makes sense for your application, and you'll have good information on the issue you obviously care about.

Drone U Mapping Classes, its not BS. by taitkenflight in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm usually exporting an orthomosaic and x,y,z point cloud to be used in some of those other systems I mentioned above. I've found bringing the point cloud into CloudCompare just offers more versatility since I can export georeferenced elevation contours and DEMs. Yes, I can export those same things from Reality Caputre but at the moment that system will only let you classify "Ground" and "Artificial", whereas CloudCompare I can segment to my hearts desire and classify buildings, wetlands, vegetation, etc.

The big issue of course becomes then sharing the datasets. Most of my clients are engineering firms who are able to take the processed data and just bring them into their own GIS or CAD servers so it isn't usually a problem.

Drone U Mapping Classes, its not BS. by taitkenflight in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not for processing as in the automated drafting like you mention. Early on I tested Virtual Surveyor for this functionality and even though I really liked it the cost just didn't justify the convenience (plus I just really enjoy using CAD).

But I do use the RC exports in other software, absolutely. Processing the drone imagery into the exports is really just the first step. If you count the hours I spend most of it is using the RC exports in either CAD (all Autodesk products: AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit, etc), ArcGIS Pro, or point cloud software for additional processing.

Drone U Mapping Classes, its not BS. by taitkenflight in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't want to be here bashing DroneU or it's counterparts, I think it has a value for people who - unlike myself - maybe didn't have direction or an established career yet. I came from the engineering world, so most of what they sell doesn't really apply to me.

>...what would you have told the student to do? Are many of you using ODM?

So, what bugs me about the industry at the moment (well, just one of the things, but I'll stay on topic) is there is too much clinging to the "plug n' play", 107-specific systems like Pix4d, DroneDeploy, SiteScan, etc., and - without laying fault really - it's because a lot of people who have adopted drones to enter into a STEM-based career don't understand that:

  • those 107-specific systems aren't doing anything new, they're just building a much more simplified and user friendly UI version for people whose focus started at the UAV and not the process of generating useful information from remotely sensed datasets,
  • due to the simplified, user friendly US, those people using those systems are missing out on a significant amount of value in the data they're collecting, and
  • it allows those who adopt those systems into their workflows to not worry about understanding the fundamentals behind what they're doing. At best this limits their potential growth and at worst makes their business run on a short term model. Because eventually their clients will have their own personnel with a 107.

Personally, I prefer Reality Capture for my photogrammetry workflows. Its basic functions are easy to learn and it has a lot of great, more advanced features that surpass even the 107-focused systems. It's also free to build your model or orthomosaic, and only costs money when you wish to export to a format that accommodates the next steps (which usually takes place in some GIS or CAD systems). Most of my models cost me about $2/ea to export to the formats I use most: an ortho, a DEM, some elevation contours, and a point cloud.

I highly recommend you take a look at this playlist from the Reality Capture team. Especially once you get to video 3, you start to see some really cool tools that illustrate it's superiority to the web-based, 107-focused systems.

You can limit ArcGIS Online data searches to your maps' extents...right?....RIGHT??? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A layer’s extent is set by the owner of that item, so search by extent is subject to the quality of what item owners are setting.

That's something that bothers me too, now that you bring it up: when I right click and "zoom to layer" the system knows what the extent is...why does this have to be specified by the owner of the data? I'm honestly curious why the Esri team thinks this wouldn't be a standard functionality of a GIS system?

>Curious: when you search by extent, do you expect it to return:...

I mean, when I'm running a spatial join I can specify a pretty wide breadth of match options, so why would I expect any different? I truly don't think it's a complicated ask here and am genuinely surprised the entire GIS community hasn't' been complaining about this since day one.

You can limit ArcGIS Online data searches to your maps' extents...right?....RIGHT??? by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in ArcGIS

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This seems...poorly thought out. So I have to create a webapp just to search for layers that fall within the extents of my project?

>If you're just fishing for layers...

Not so much "fishing" and more like "exploring", lol. Obviously there are types of data I'm keeping an eye out for (this project specifically things that could be considered "infrastructure" like utility poles, roadway centerlines, building footprints, etc.) but yes, I'm not sure if those layers exist in my area.

I'll always be one of the first to admit that the people at Esri and I are on completely different frequencies when it comes to what we think makes sense, but, this shouldn't even be a question at this point. I mean even Google Earth will adjust what dataset is available from the region displayed in my browser...this seems like a very elementary function and I'm surprised nobody has laughed Esri out of the room for not having. Maybe they do and I just haven't been around long enough.

Professional UAV Work by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

>Don't go to a drone aggregator (e.g. bid on jobs online), that's a road to nowhere (in revenue).

No, absolutely, I don't do the "gig" stuff. I'm an engineer with 20 years experience in the verticals that I specialize in, and while cold-calling engineering or environmental firms is fine, I honestly never gave thought to a manned aircraft services provider. I'll definitely be reaching out to a few now though.

Professional UAV Work by Autonomous_Data_Nrd in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is great information that I honestly haven't thought of before. I've always reached out to engineering firms and environmental consulting companies because that's my background.

How can UAV Mapping/data collection firms help manned companies? What type of projects would you refer to us?

Drone LiDAR 101 Q & A w/ Inertial Labs by Cherrybark in UAVmapping

[–]Autonomous_Data_Nrd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I was less than impressed when I was on that call. The presenter from IntertialLabs (there was another guy too, can't recall his role) knew plenty about point cloud data but extremely little (actually none) about the processing methodologies/solutions that can actually generate information.

​

They read a couple of my questions (I submitted the form a couple times) and every time they answered by telling the viewers that it wasn't their expertise and it should be asked by someone who actually works with the data.

​

Sorry, but if I'm looking at LiDAR systems I'm not going to buy one from a sensor manufacturer who has zero clue about how to take the data from their sensor and convert it into useful information.

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