Every day photogrammetric cameras are becoming cheaper, lighter, more accurate and more flexible, which is allowing companies from all over the world to start in the business of performing photogrammetric flights from drones, helicopters or airplanes. So much so that the market has gone from a few large specialized companies to thousands of new players.
For many of them it seems straightforward to make an investment in hardware for data capture, opening up a wealth of possible end applications that can be derived from photogrammetric flights, but it is always difficult to transform this raw data into value on a large scale.
Experienced flight companies have their own in-house departments for generating orthophotos and derived photogrammetric products, but the process is very costly. Added to this is the dual problem of not having annual continuity of work, coupled with the fact that when work is available, it involves more tasks than can be absorbed internally due to short lead times and insufficient resources.
A reliable processing provider solves this problem. It enables the capture company to focus their attention and resources on creating the market and securing their market share.
More and more data capture companies are reducing their fixed costs in internal departments by outsourcing processing to highly specialized companies such as DIELMO 3D.
Often new players approach data capture with great professionalism, with drones flying in RTK and state-of-the-art photogrammetric cameras. But they fall into the mistake of underestimating data processing jobs and thinking that full automation will be enough to offer competitive products, encountering the customers’ need for access to higher accuracy and reliability.
These automated solutions usually work well with small areas, until they are applied to real large area projects where unexpected problems arise and must be solved in a very short time frame.
On the other hand, automated solutions are not able to obtain the orientation of images in water or forest areas where it is not possible to obtain homologous points between images, being impossible to generate an orthophoto unless direct orthorectification techniques are used.
High level topography projects always require experts to add value to the raw data obtained. This allows flight companies to focus on their business and reduce fixed costs.
Today, a fully automated product is not the best option to compete on quality. In fact, the key to gain access to a portfolio of recurring customers is to rely on companies such as DIELMO 3D thanks to its long experience in the sector.
