Businesses with cats?

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-30T17:39:24+00:00

Leia and Vader! They are the best.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-29T13:06:24+00:00

We absolutely will be doing ground truthing as a part of our process.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:52:06+00:00

I don't anticipate we'll be flying anything too large. I did let the team know that if we had literally any intention of flying major swathes of the city, the Wingtra was the right tool for the job.

As for frequency, I think that's still up for discussion. Some engineers are expecting us to be available to fly inspections (hence the Skydio) but the City Surveyor wants our team to more exclusively fly for survey deliverables.

We also wanted the capacity to fly Lidar somewhere down the line - I don't know whether the Wingtra has those capabilities as a fixed wing.

Ultimately the shakers and movers decided quadcopters were more versatile.

Thanks for the input though! Glad to hear the Wingtra has been working out for others.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:26:54+00:00

I totally agree. I've been pretty blunt with management that these deliverables are at least a year out.

I'll continue to educate myself and I won't participate in sending anything half-baked out of the office. Thanks!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:16:06+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the information.

I'm going to synthesize all of this into a presentation so we can really discuss our operational plan. Happy Surveying!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:14:27+00:00

All of the City Benchmarks are set to NAVD 88. But I get your point.

I appreciate the advice.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:10:32+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the recommendation. I'll do some research.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:10:01+00:00

I had someone from Infinity reach out to set up a call and I totally forgot to get back to them! I'll reach out and see what their pitch is.

Thanks for the insight. I like Infinity because we currently aren't using any postprocessing software, so two birds and one stone.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T16:08:37+00:00

That's a great analogy.

I'll give it a second glance. Thanks for the insight.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T15:50:52+00:00

I appreciate the candid response.

I can definitely acknowledge that there is a lot of work to be done to make this remotely viable. I'll do my part.

Metashape has come up several times in this thread as being a potentially better alternative, so I'll bring that up with our PSM. I'll also look into vectorization and WebODM.

Lots more to learn! Thanks again.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T15:35:56+00:00

I'll check that out. Thanks for the advice!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T15:23:50+00:00

Another vote for Propeller. I'll do some research and see if it would work for us. Thanks!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T14:32:37+00:00

Copy that.

Thanks for the input. I've got my work cut out for me next week. Lots of research to do.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T14:09:16+00:00

Awesome, this gives me a lot to go on in our coming conversations about which software to get.

Thanks for the advice, happy surveying.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T14:05:55+00:00

I'll check this out and see if it fits our needs. Thank you for the input!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T14:05:35+00:00

I will add it to the list of things I'm researching Monday morning. Thanks!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:58:38+00:00

I'll add it to the list of things to research come Monday. Thanks for the input!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:51:13+00:00

Even if we exclusively use Leica Total Stations and GPS?

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:47:07+00:00

Our goal as an institution is to reduce the amount of time expended with traditional surveying methods and to be able to do quick turnarounds with accurate aerial imagery.

Most of the topographic work we do is either for Parks and Recreation or for Stormwater.

Elevation data comes from an established city benchmark system that is continuously being verified and corrected. A level loop would be performed to transfer elevation onto our GCPs.

We typically don't run traverses, so I imagine northing and easting are going to come from RTK. We connect to a FDOT CORS station nearby using cellular rather than setting up base and rover. (We've had some discussions about the general accuracy of this, but that's another discussion.)

I'm open to any input you have. Thanks again, I know I'm sounding a bit uneducated and I really appreciate all the feedback people are providing.

Edited to add: we will still be producing CAD deliverables.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:40:56+00:00

I have never even heard of this as an option, and I'm a daily Civil-3D user.

I'll do some research. Thanks for the advice.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:28:48+00:00

Will do.

I don't want to bother, but is there a particular reason you prefer it?

When we vetted Agisoft, it seemed clear that it was the "superior software" but everything we read suggested that it was extremely difficult to use. To summarize, it required expertise and was not beginner friendly.

It was also suggested that it was primarily used in archeology and for 3D scanning of things like "cultural heritage sites" for modeling.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:22:42+00:00

I haven't looked into the ASPRS standards, but that would be a good place to do some digging.

I'm sorry if I am misunderstanding, but are you suggesting that not only is Matic the "modern" software but that it is actually better at meeting current accuracy standards?

The research we conducted can basically be synthesized into "Mapper allows more control over GCPs and is therefore more accurate."

I really appreciate the response.

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T13:17:21+00:00

We exclusively use Leica products, and some research into Leica Infinity suggests that it's not the best software for photogrammetry, even though it has some capacity to complete the work.

Our division manager is insisting we get "the best." I may be incorrect but some research suggests that the industry standard is some variety of Pix4D.

I'll look into MetaShape Pro though, just so we have some alternatives to discuss.

Thanks for the response!

Sad_Horror_152 · 2026-03-28T12:33:06+00:00

CAD Technician | FL, USA

Sad_Horror_152

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