KO | EN

GitLite

Minimalist Open Source Repository Search Engine

gitlite — search

#dsh #dsh-plugin #typescript #developer-tools #claude-code #ai-agent #codex #deepseek-harness #ai-agents #cli #react #mcp

Drone-Footprints

★ 46 Open GitHub ↗

No description available.

// repository documentation

Was this content helpful?

★ 0 (0 ratings)

# Aerial Drone (aka UAV/UAS) Imagery Footprint and GeoTIFF Utility.

> Author: Dean Hand \
> Date Created: 09/07/2019 \
> Name: Drone_Footprints.py

The purpose of this application is to accurately calculate the geographic footprints of individual drone images.
Initially, it extracts specific metadata from the drone image files to determine each image's Field of View (FOV).
Following this, the application performs a series of calculations to establish the geospatial reference of each image.
Subsequently, it adjusts the image to align accurately with the Earth's surface within that FOV, ensuring precise
geolocation without the need for stitching images together. This results in a remarkably efficient process. The final
output includes a orthorectified GeoTiff image file, accompanied by a GeoJSON file detailing:

- The Drone's Flight Path (as a LineString),
- The Drone's Location at the moment the photo was taken (as a Point),
- The Footprints of Individual Images (as Polygons).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## Installation

### ExifTool requirement

[ExifTool](https://exiftool.org) must be installed separately and available on your system `PATH`.

#### On Windows
1. Download the **Windows Executable** (`exiftool-<version>.zip`) from https://exiftool.org
2. Extract `exiftool(-k).exe`, rename it to `exiftool.exe`, and place it in a folder that is on your `PATH`
   (e.g. `C:\Windows\` or any directory listed in your `PATH` environment variable).

#### On macOS with brew
```
brew install exiftool
```

#### On Ubuntu / Debian
```
sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl
```

### GDAL requirement
#### On Ubuntu, you can install as follows a ready-made gdal (version 3.8.3 or later) :
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libgdal-dev
```

#### On Macos with brew
```
brew install gdal
```

### Clone the repository

```
git clone https://github.com/spifftek70/Drone-Footprints.git
cd Drone-Footprints
```

### Installation via uv (recommended)

[uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) is a fast Python package and project manager. Install it once with:

```
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
```

Then, from the repository root, run:

```
uv sync
```

This will automatically create a virtual environment, install the correct Python version, and install all dependencies.

To run the application:

```
uv run python src/Drone_Footprints.py -i '/Path/To/images' -o '/Path/To/output'
```

### Installation via pip (alternative)

First, create and activate a virtual environment:

```
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
```

Then install dependencies:

```
pip install --no-cache-dir --force-reinstall -r requirements.txt
```

### Requirements

Python 3.9 and above

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## :bulb: Processing Notes and Tips

### Arguments

`-i` - The Default root folder path for the mission you wish to process. Required

`-o` - The output directory path for the GeoJSON file and GeoTiffs. Required

`-w` - Sensor Width (default is 13.2), Not Required (Check your Drones Specs for information)

`-t` - Sensor Height (default is 8.8), Not Required (Check your Drones Specs for information)

`-d` - Correct images using local magnetic declination (optional)

`-e` - Desired EPSG code for output GeoTiffs (default is `4326`) (optional)

`-v` - Path to a Digital Surface Model file to use for more accuracy (optional)

`-m` - Utilize [open_elevation.com](https://open-elevation.com) for more accuracy but extends processing time (location dependent) (optional)

`-c` - Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) for output tiff files (optional). Extends processing time

`-z` - Improve local contrast option to can make details more visible (optional). Significantly
extends processing time

`-l` - Applies lens distortion correction using [lensfun](https://lensfun.github.io) api (optional)

`-a` - Absolute altitude of the ground reference in meters (optional). When provided, the drone height above
ground is calculated as `AbsoluteAltitude - absolute_ground` instead of using the relative altitude embedded
in the image metadata. Example: `-a -45.5` means the ground is at -45.5 m (AMSL).

:warning: _you can only select `-m` or `-v` but not both!_
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

### Example Commands

From the `src` directory, run the following commands:

```
python Drone_Footprints.py -i '/Path/To/Dataset1/images' -o '/Path/To/Dataset1/output
```

```
python Drone_Footprints.py -i "/Path/To/Dataset2/images" -o "/Path/To/Dataset2/output" -w 6.16 -t 4.62
```

```
python Drone_Footprints.py -i "/Path/To/Dataset3/images" -o "/Path/To/Dataset3/output" -e 3857
```

```
python Drone_Footprints.py -i "/Path/To/Dataset4/images" -o "/Path/To/Dataset4/output" -e 3857 -c n
```

```
python Drone_Footprints.py -i "/Path/To/Dataset5/images" -o "/Path/To/Dataset5/output" -a -45.5
```

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

### :warning: Tips for the most accurate results:

## Preflight

1. IMU calibration - Do this once a month
2. Prior to each mission:
    - Calibration the drone's gimbal
    - Calibration the drone's compass
    - Restart the drone
3. Shooting angle - for best results, select `Parallel to Main Path`
4. Gimbal Pitch Angle - for best results, capture at NADIR (aka -90° aka straight down)
5. Wind - Plays havoc on your drone's telemetry, so plan your missions accordingly
6. Immediately after take-off, go STRAIGHT UP. Take a photo immiedately above the homepoint to establish an
   elevation/altitude reference point

### Preprocessing

#### Sort into Datasets

It is highly recommended that you sort the images you want processed into corresponding datasets

- Separate Images by flight mission
- Create a mission folder for each flight mission
- Create an image folder within the mission folder

``````
├── /Path/to/mission_folder
│   ├── images
``````

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## Postprocessing

- If each image appears to be off-angle by a few degrees, it could be magnetic declination. Rerun them back through, but
  change the `-d` flag and see if that fixes the issue.
  Sometimes electro-magnetic fields can mess witht he aircrafts compass.

#### Outputs locations

It is a good practice to set your output folder `-o` location within your flight mission folder as shown in
[Example Commands](#example-commands), but it is not required.

``````
├── /Path/to/output_folder
│   ├── geotiffs
│   │   ├── image1.tif
│   │   ├── image1.tif
│   ├── geojsons
│   │   ├── M_2024-02-06_11-16.json
│   ├── logfiles
│   │   ├── L_M_2024-03-21_13-49.log
``````

Geojson name is constructed using the date/time of processing like so:

- `M` = mission
- `2024-02-06` = year, month, day
- `11-16` = hour, minute

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## :boom: Future Works

### Sensor Size checks

- There still remains many empty cells in  [drone_sensors.csv](src%2Fdrone_sensors.csv), but will update it as that
  information becomes available.
- Addition sensor and platform compatibilities

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## :star: Sample datatsets

### Raw zipped Datasets

- <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15WzT_V9unsGuAp_I2M4PaBOkFC2unkq_" download>dataset 1</a>
- <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15UVtXf0tpiCSDObSIc62UPv0Kabq_5Ks" download>dataset 2</a>
- <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15UivtQ-YccOu4GXBrb7BtEvaeLi-JwW7" download>dataset 3</a>
- <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15U6Uvwv2c1s4MeIhNIwW6mPMW4xdwOnO" download>dataset 4</a>
- <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15P_G8sRB2AssxfrWul4VAyyBZpRIT2Ys" download>dataset 5</a>
- <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=15RICP1BA8HvVUVMd4TXiOQ3fswzwMmkY" download>dataset 6</a>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## :star: Sample Outputs

### Sample JSON Output

- [M_2024-02-04_07-03.json](samples%2Fgeojson%2FM_2024-02-04_07-03.json)

### Sample GeoTIFFs

- [DJI_0261.tif](samples%2Fgeotiffs%2FDJI_0261.tif)
- [DJI_0267.tif](samples%2Fgeotiffs%2FDJI_0267.tif)
- [DJI_0273.tif](samples%2Fgeotiffs%2FDJI_0273.tif)
- [DJI_0280.tif](samples%2Fgeotiffs%2FDJI_0280.tif)

### Sample Screenshots (QGIS)

[![IMAGE ALT TEXT HERE](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spifftek70/Drone-Footprints/main/samples%2Fscreenshots%2Fezgif-2-5968847bb5.gif)](https://youtu.be/eaPfwUOpPlo)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## Drone Compatibility

Tested and works with:

- Phantom 3 & 4 Series
- Mavic 2 Series
- Mavic 3 Multispectral
- EVO II

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## known Issues

1. Might not work with some Drones due to difference in metadata keys/values. Older collections may not work for the
   same reason.
2. This accuracy of this process is highly dependent on the accuracy of the drone's telemetry. Like all compasses, the
   drone's compass is highly susceptible to electromagnetic interference. Therefore, Datasets collected in areas of high
   magnetic interference (i.e. power lines, large metal structures, etc) will have a higher margin of error.
3. Fisheye lenses are impossible to completely compensate for. Sorry.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drone-Footprints

Explore Similar Repositories

Was this content helpful?

Recent Feedback

Download README