Training

[JakeB826]

Mr. Martin,

Thank you very much for your in-depth reply. It gives me more food for thought and I really appreciate it. One of my tipping points, for lack of a better term, is positioning myself in the market where I can deliver a quality product that has market value but doesn't over extend me into surveyor level mapping until I am at a point, both with ability and with certification, where I can actually deliver. I'm trying to find a "fit" in construction progress mapping, etc (I'm also pursuing towers but that is another animal) but am exceptionally cautious about giving the false impression that I am providing survey level products. I'm pursing the education but also want to get moving on intermediary work with hopes of being capable enough to approach true surveyors as a trade off arrangement. No idea if this will become viable at this point.

I did just add a P4A to my fleet for the extended battery life, cost effectiveness and no real need to put my 5k Inspire up unless I'm going for detailed shots like on a tower, etc. My next step, I think, is to add an Emlid Reach for GCP via CORS and use the Drone Deploy post processing service. This appears to be a cost effective route to get to sub 10 cm while I'm learning enough to chase after the mm's that you survey guys can get. I can't justify RTK base stations/ UAVs until I'm educated and experienced enough at the intermediate level and until I'm making any money at any of this. It isn't all about the money or a money grab but I need to be fiscally responsible, too. Does this seem to be a reasonable approach?

The thing I'm finding right now about the hurricane response and insurance is that the roof money is in Florida, as their storm damage was more wind and ours was flooding. The insurance companies for the most part are looking at why would they need roof pics if they are writing the whole thing off anyway from flood damage. There seems to be very little here as opposed to Florida for strictly roof inspection. I say that but I am flying a roof for an adjustor this afternoon...I know there is work out there but not the flood of it, no pun intended, that I thought there would be. I'm open to any constructive criticism or input if I'm on a poor trajectory.

Thanks again to everyone for their time and advice.

Jake

 

[RMartin]

Mr. Martin,

Thank you very much for your in-depth reply. It gives me more food for thought and I really appreciate it. One of my tipping points, for lack of a better term, is positioning myself in the market where I can deliver a quality product that has market value but doesn't over extend me into surveyor level mapping until I am at a point, both with ability and with certification, where I can actually deliver. I'm trying to find a "fit" in construction progress mapping, etc (I'm also pursuing towers but that is another animal) but am exceptionally cautious about giving the false impression that I am providing survey level products. I'm pursing the education but also want to get moving on intermediary work with hopes of being capable enough to approach true surveyors as a trade off arrangement. No idea if this will become viable at this point.

In the State of Texas, in order to provide survey grade data you need to be or work for a licensed RPLS certified by the State. Only a State licensed surveyor can stamp the documents. On the other hand, you can provide mapping services that can come close to survey grade depending upon your skill level and equipment. I am not an RPLS nor do I wish to be. The cost and time required to attain that goal is just not cost-efficient for me at my age.

That being said, I work for a University in support of maintenance and construction providing mapping services that rival (but are not certifiable) in the 1-2cm range of accuracy due in large part to the GPS equipment that we use and to a lessor degree to the GPS accuracy of the UAS. I guess skill factors into that as well but frankly, once you set the GPS unit up correctly they are really easy to use provided that you don't jerk with the settings as some of my students occasionally do. Education provides a foundation in theory, but theory and real-world application of that knowledge are two different animals and if you do not have the ability to adapt to actual conditions and apply the theory, the textbook portion of the training is worthless. I've noticed that there are a lot of faculty that have no real-world experience in what they teach and don't have a clue as to how things really work in the walls outside a classroom.
A solid understanding of how GPS works and coordinate systems is a big part of day to day operations. Understanding how to use all the software that the job requires is another huge hurdle you will have to cross. You need an ability to work both in some form of GIS but also a CAD environment as well because a lot of the engineering types don't get GIS; they are CAD-centric. At the least you need to know how to convert one file type to the other and still retain the information that the database contains.
Best advice is find something that you like to do, and then are capable of doing well and stick with it. Diluting yourself by doing tower inspections and mapping and ag-related analysis with real estate photography jobs just does not make sense. By doing so you are an expert at none and hopefully capable in the rest. Pick something and focus on it to become an expert in the field.

 

[bluelight.support]

Emlid reach and cors is a good idea for post processed howevet ive not used it or its actual accuracy

 

[RMartin]

Emlid reach and cors is a good idea for post processed howevet ive not used it or its actual accuracy

It could be a simpler solution with something like this:
AeroPoints: Ground Control Points for Drone Surveys ⋆ Propeller

 

[bluelight.support]

It could be a simpler solution with something like this:
AeroPoints: Ground Control Points for Drone Surveys ⋆ Propeller

The Aero system is something I saw a year or so ago and it was just out of development, im sorry but im still of the opinion that the best option is for the "old fashioned" ground control points dotted around the area confirmed with a Trimble (style) unit and added to the data during processing. I get a good and accurate result and more importantly when you put your reports together with the post processing report adding in the distance with percentage accuracy any surveyor will understand and accept that as its current gold standard.

 

[RMartin]

The Aero system is something I saw a year or so ago and it was just out of development, im sorry but im still of the opinion that the best option is for the "old fashioned" ground control points dotted around the area confirmed with a Trimble (style) unit and added to the data during processing. I get a good and accurate result and more importantly when you put your reports together with the post processing report adding in the distance with percentage accuracy any surveyor will understand and accept that as its current gold standard.

From what I've heard from the COG which chose this approach, they are as accurate as my Trimble. They do need to be set in place and left for 30-45 minutes to get a good fix. It takes me at least that amount of time if not a little more to manually set panels and gather the points with the GPS. I guess post processing is still an option in areas where you cannot get a cell signal but for urban environments, RTK is the way to go. We gave up post processing a few years ago. Everything I collect now is real time and usable immediately in the field. The cost to me per month is roughly $50.00US for the data pucks to connect to the net.

For someone getting off the ground this is not a bad solution at $6,000.00US for ten. Certainly less expensive than the Trimble Geo 7X with the accessories added in you need to make it work. Trimble just announced yesterday their version though it is not on the market as of yet.

 

[bluelight.support]

I agree -for us as we only do 5-10 gap for the areas we do our process works fine - in some areas we don't have access to cell signal as for some of our scenes have cell phone access blocked - so post processing is our only option.

 

[RMartin]

I agree -for us as we only do 5-10 gap for the areas we do our process works fine - in some areas we don't have access to cell signal as for some of our scenes have cell phone access blocked - so post processing is our only option.

Technology. When you need it most it fails. Its a heavy burden we bare.