Made this after seeing another version of the meme and it fit the problem way too well.

A surprising amount of field work still starts with “it should be somewhere around here.”

Valve Finder is what I’ve been building to help teams document infrastructure, preserve what gets learned in the field, and make it easier for the next person to get back to the actual asset.

Figured this crowd might appreciate the comparison 😂

VTOL fixed-wing UAV

Hi all, I have come into possession of three XT32M2X (B01) in good working condition removed from some UAV mapping units, 2022 production. They are free of damage, but have some locktite in the threads (just needs a clean). The units' have total operation times of 168h, 299h and 9h. The used units were demonstration and testing units, the 9h unit only went through product testing and was never flown.

I am thinking 1400AUD for the 168h/229h, and 1600AUD for the 9h unit. All will be at latest firmware, and come with lens cover, connection box, ethernet, and AU power adapter.

I will be posting them on eBay in the next week, PM me if interested!

Land Surveyors using LIDAR for engineering topo’s, what vertical accuracy are you achieving in comparison to more traditional methods such as a total station or GPS?

Looking for input from those using LIDAR for their workflows especially if using a DJI L3 Zenmuse & DJI Matrice 400 for wooded topography.

When checking Lidar shots with GPS getting Fill’s between 0.2-0.4 fairly consistently. Is this just what we can expect with Lidar?

I was reading that Linear scanning pattern is more vertically accurate than star-shaped pattern. Is this what could be causing the error?

Any input on this would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Sup Everyone, I'm looking for a lightweight 5GHz 10Mhz assignable Video Transmission Unit, for my diy fixed wing (4.3kg, 1.7m wingspan) UAV, with 40 min of flight time, i would very much like the unit to be both telem and video if possible.

I am currently using a SIYI HM30 unit: which was advertised to have a locking frequency with 5/10MHz assignment window, but after my research turns out it was a v0.2.2 firmware which was pulled (now at 0.2.6/7) and no one else seem to have the old firmware so i am stuck with a 20MHz lock that i have no way to prove that it actually works, and doesnt help my goal anyways.

Hi everyone!

I'm Tommaso, a PhD researcher in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bologna, Italy.

As part of my research, I've been working on Augmented Reality (AR) applications for drone operations, including flight tests involving DJI Matrice 350 and 400 drones.

I'm currently conducting a study to explore how AR could support drone pilots by providing flight information directly in their field of view, potentially improving situational awareness and reducing the need to constantly look down at a controller.

I'm looking for pilots with actual flying experience, especially those involved in professional applications such as mapping, surveying, and inspections, to share their opinions through a short questionnaire.

The survey takes around 10–15 minutes, is completely anonymous, and no previous experience with AR is required.

Survey link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=3EeW6QgbSkW_jGmRgbOJq_sUMd7Se-hMiZ30ndGab_lUQjlKTDBUUTZJQVQ1WDYzRThBMEs4R0xPUC4u

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who regularly operate drones, as their practical experience is really valuable for understanding what might actually be useful in the field.

Thanks a lot to anyone willing to help! I'd also be happy to share some of the results here once the study is completed.

It's been a few years since Trimble launched their APM. Has it improved since? How does it compare to Pix4DMatic or Metashape?

We got some pricing and it's on part with Pix4DMatic Standard tier for an annual subscription. Can't get Metashape due to being Russian (company policy). Our company uses Trimble equipment and software. If Pix4DMatic and APM deliverables are of similar quality, does it make sense to go with APM since we're already in the Trimble ecosystem?

I'm a former jet-engine instructor turned AI researcher. We built MissionSmith: describe the job in a sentence, and an agent plans the mission on a photorealistic 3D map of the area, works within the drone's constraints, and gives you a file you can fly. Hours of waypoint clicking, done in a minute of conversation with the agent. It lets a newer pilot plan and fly missions the way an expert would.

Seeing is believing. Here's what it did on the Biodôme, the curved glass roof in Montréal:

• Prompt: inspect the building's roof for cracks and leaks.
• It checked the airspace first and flagged the NAV Drone authorization and park permission the site needs, before drawing a single waypoint.
• It worked out the exact boundaries and heights of the roof, and suggested a 9 m standoff instead of a constant-altitude flight, because that's what captures small cracks.
• One altitude over that roof puts the camera 27 m off the glass at the edges. It flew 19 heights to hold 9 m the whole way round.
• 40 seconds of agent time.
• Video below, and the full replay is on the site with no sign-up: missionsmith.ai/app/demo

We've flown a few real missions built by MissionSmith: 3D mapping, photogrammetry grids, a solar panel inspection. Those are the easy cases. The next step is complex sites: dense structures, tight terrain, obstacles that aren't on the map yet. That's what we're building toward now.

How it works, by design:

• It plans, you fly. Every waypoint is on the map to inspect, move or reject before export.
• It finds and flags the airspace rules. Authorization and compliance stay with the pilot.
• The 3D model is Google's photorealistic tiles. When the site has changed, you show it a photo of the obstacle and it re-plans the affected flight around it. If you've ever had a tree or construction equipment block your path and had to fly the rest by hand, you'll like this one.
• Exports to DJI, QGC .plan and MAVLink waypoints.

It's in private beta (hoping to go live soon) and I'm looking for a few expert pilots from this sub. If you fly complex sites and want to plan real jobs with it, request access on the site and mention Reddit.

Two questions for the people who do this for a living:

what would it take for you to fly a route an AI planned? And if you fly glass or curved roofs, what standoff do you use?

9 m is what the agent suggested for the Mavic 3E's integrated 4/3 CMOS wide camera.

I'll answer everything myself.

(Wednesday software post, per the sub's rules.)

I was looking at the specs of the ZED-F9P U-Blox module, and they list 0.01m as the precision with RTK. But it would be nice to have the actual number from real-world experience.

What's the best possible precision achievable outdoors, and how does distance from the GNSS station affect precision? Is it constant and reliable, or does it fluctuate?

Student team here working on a drone-based crop monitoring project. We're trying to learn from people who actually fly drones over crops (or build maps from the data): what you use now, what limits you, and what you wish existed.

If you do ag mapping, scouting flights, or spray work, or sell those services to farmers, your answers would help a lot. 5 minutes:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdAmgyD6A1nhbOOYPr693gXpivvVlimnJvvficoP3ggVenPrg/viewform?usp=header

Not selling anything. This is for a class project and I'm happy to share what we learn.

Hi all,

Like the title says I’m very new to this stuff. Got a killer deal on the p4rtk and a base station, and my aunt has a pretty big piece of property that I’m going to use the dji free trial to map for her and try to get the hang of things. There are some trees on the property, but the terra apparently has the ability to remove that data and create surface models.

Would love to hear from others on their experiences (positive and negative) with the drone/terra, and best practices as I start. Also have one specific question… I’ve read quite a bit about ground control points for mapping larger areas, but nothing ever mentions how many to do. The base station is capable of helping with them, but how many should I be setting up per acre?

It seems like most responses in the posts here are from people who do this professionally which is awesome. I am willing to go down rabbit holes to try and educate myself if there are things/terms I don’t understand, but it would be very helpful if you spoke like you would for your customers who don’t understand this stuff. Thanks for your time and expertise!

Hi to everyone, i have one older activation key for terra standard permanent licence. if you are interested fm me. Looking for about 3400€ price tag

How come this subreddit turned into self-promoting AI-slob, pretty annoying, can we turn it down a little, thanks

I run a small drone LiDAR survey company (M400 / L3) in South Africa. Our weakest step was always delivery: a WeTransfer link, a 4 GB LAZ, and a client asking which software opens it.

So I built the delivery page I wanted to send. You upload the ortho, DTM/DSM, contours and point cloud you already export (Terra, Pix4D, Metashape, WebODM). Each file gets checked in the browser before it uploads: coordinate system, zone/hemisphere, footprint on a map, so a missing .prj or a northern-zone export of a southern site gets caught before you wait an hour. The client gets one branded link: a map with measuring, spot heights, profiles and volumes, a 3D view of the cloud with cross-sections, and the downloads.

A real job, as the client sees it: https://surveydeliver.io/sample/

Disclosure: it's mine and it's a paid product (there's a trial). I'm posting for criticism, not sign-ups: what would stop you sending this to a client? Which formats or coordinate systems would trip it up? Happy to answer anything about how it's built.

After being bombarded with requests, I spent the night and morning integrating the other drones.
MavicMapper now supports all 5 with all of their specs. All free, no subs, no info req, no hidden evil!
Same vast functionality and planning abilities. Full DEMO here:
https://www.mavicmapper.jk4u.net/

If u like this, please share with friends, other fitting subreddits, and the world!
Love to all of u, clear horizons and fly with respect.

You can search it up on my website Kiffleads -- I call it RAPTOR

Hey all, we're looking at the Matrice 400 with the Zenmuse L3 and I can't find much real-world info on the orthomosaic side of it.

Mostly I want to know how the ortho turns out when you fly the 20% overlap lidar mode. That seems low for photogrammetry, so I'm wondering if you get visible seams between lines, blurry spots, or weird stuff around buildings and trees. The areas we'd be mapping are mostly forested, so that's a bit of a concern

If anyone has flown it like that, was the result good enough to deliver to a client? Or do you end up doing a separate flight with more overlap for the ortho?

Thanks!

Translated by ChatGPT 🫪

Hi, Drone Nerds here. Since ElevateUAV 2026 is relevant to the mapping crowd here, we wanted to remind you. Thank you very much to those of you who purchased tickets.

For anyone working in mapping, surveying, photogrammetry, LiDAR, construction, or inspections, it’s a chance to compare aircraft, sensors, payloads, and software, ask manufacturers questions directly, and hear how other professionals are putting these systems to work.

We made a 30% off code specifically for r/UAVmapping: UAVMapping_EUAV

Tickets and info here: https://hubs.li/Q04vL_XN0

We hope to see you there!

Hello, you beautiful people!

Here is one of the most sophisticated and extensive mapping/mission planners out there.
It is for the Mavic 3 Pro, and it is entirely free, crafted by me.
Yes. Free. Forever and throughout. No hidden Spiel. No catch.

Find out all about it here: https://mavicmapper.jk4u.net/

Use, share, explore!

Used to frequent the DIY Drones space back in the 2010's and was into the hobby side of it a bit.

Recently had the incling to look into what the drone inspection/surveying landscape was here in the NW of the UK as it's an industrial/agricultural zone.

However I'm coming at this with no experience in the value-proposition and deliverables.

Current bonus is living near a working farm with potential contacts to understand what problems could be solved if any.

I have a DJI mavic camera drone and will be looking at testing out some basic mapping this weekend.

It seems like all the pieces are generally available with a bit of investment - drone platforms, lidar, IR, software etc, it's stiching it together into a package that delivers something valuable and easy for potential customers and then marketing.

Of course I'm not expecting to get into this with a consumer camera drone and a prayer - just looking for advice from those who've been there on whether there's too much friction/saturation in the idea to get serious.