How model complex terrain
Hi. I want to model around 1 acre with a house, complex terrain and lots of tall trees. particularly, I want to get detail about elevation, but often it is covered with semi-forest. Can I combine a map component with a way-points mission to capture details that are under trees? I am already using a map component with Grid, Terrain Follow, and gimble set at 75 degrees and height set at around 60 feet, the height of the tallest tree. I am using a mini SE. I am wondering if Pix4d or other photogrammetry software will be able to integrate the photos in the waypoints mission to capture the details as well as the overall topology.
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You can certainly combine a map component and a mission. But I don't see how you are going to capture the details under the trees unless you are flying under the trees - is that what you meant? If so, I would not recommend that. The mission under the trees will have significant GPS errors caused by the signal loss.
But, since it is only an acre, you could just walk around holding the drone and take pictures as you go. Or even do that with a phone, which would also store the GPS location. Any good software will happily take images from different devices, although you might do better to use the mini handheld just for consistency of photos. Again, just remember that there will be GPS errors under trees. If you can wait until the leaves disappear that will give better results.
What I did was download lidar elevation data with 1 foot accuracy from one of our public state colleges that has a big GIS program and then add that as a layer to the drone generated ortho map in QGIS (open source GIS software). I set it to show markings with elevation labels at every 5 feet of elevation change, or every 1 foot if zoomed in far enough as it was way to busy showing just 1 foot changes for the whole property while zoomed out. There is likely a lot of free GIS data from your state (or county) government that can be incorporated (like property boundaries, elevation, precipitation, wetlands, etc). Lidar penetrates vegetation and gives accurate elevation data at ground level. We are using this map for clearing a 3 acre section of a 55 acre timber property and it has been invaluable for having accurate topology to plan locations of building sites, etc.
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