Drone Image Processing

SiteView integrates with NodeODM to process raw drone images into geo-referenced orthophotos, 3D point clouds, and Digital Elevation Models directly within the application. Upload your drone photos and SiteView handles the photogrammetry pipeline, with real-time progress updates as processing runs.

When to Use Drone Processing

Use this workflow when you have raw drone photographs and want SiteView to handle the photogrammetry processing. This is ideal when:

• You do not have separate photogrammetry software (Pix4D, DroneDeploy, Metashape)
• You want a streamlined workflow entirely within SiteView
• You are processing a straightforward site capture with good image overlap

If you already have processed outputs (GeoTIFF orthophotos, LAS/LAZ point clouds, GeoTIFF DEMs) from external software, use Importing Processed Data instead — it is faster because the photogrammetry step is already done.

ℹ️ Did you know?

NodeODM is an open-source photogrammetry processing engine. SiteView connects to a NodeODM server to perform the heavy computation. The NodeODM server can run locally or on a remote machine — see the server requirements section below for details.

Uploading Drone Images

To process drone images, open a survey in the Pending status and select the drone processing option.

The Batch Uploader

The upload interface provides a drag-and-drop zone where you can add your drone images:

1. Drag and drop your drone photos into the upload zone, or click to open a file browser
2. The uploader accepts JPEG and TIFF images — the same formats your drone outputs
3. You can add images in batches — drop more files to append to the queue
4. A file list shows all queued images with names and sizes
5. Click Start Processing when all images are added

💡 Tip

For best results, ensure your drone images have GPS metadata embedded in their EXIF data. Most drone cameras do this automatically. Images without GPS data can still be processed, but the resulting outputs may not be correctly geo-referenced on the globe.

Image Requirements

For NodeODM to produce good results:

• Overlap — aim for 70-80% front overlap and 60-70% side overlap between adjacent images
• Format — JPEG or TIFF (standard drone camera outputs)
• GPS — EXIF GPS tags for geo-referencing (embedded automatically by most drones)
• Quantity — a minimum of approximately 20-30 images for a small area; larger sites require more

Processing Progress

Once you click Start Processing, SiteView uploads the images to the NodeODM server and begins the photogrammetry pipeline. Progress is reported in real time via Server-Sent Events (SSE).

The progress display shows:

• Upload progress — percentage of images transferred to the server
• Processing stage — the current step in the photogrammetry pipeline (feature matching, dense reconstruction, mesh generation, texturing)
• Estimated time remaining — an approximate estimate based on current progress
• Status messages — descriptive text explaining what the processor is currently doing

You can navigate away from the page while processing runs — the survey status will update to Completed or Failed when processing finishes, and you will see the result when you return.

⚠️ Watch out!

Processing time depends on the number of images, their resolution, and the NodeODM server's hardware. A small site with 50 images might take 15-30 minutes. A large site with 500+ images could take several hours. Do not cancel processing unless you are certain you want to start over.

Processing Outputs

When processing completes successfully, the survey transitions to Completed status and three outputs are generated:

The outputs are automatically tiled and optimised for web display. You can toggle them on and off in the Layers tab.

NodeODM Server Requirements

SiteView connects to a NodeODM server for processing. The server details are configured in the SiteView application settings.

Requirements for the NodeODM server:

• NodeODM installed and running (open-source, available at github.com/OpenDroneMap/NodeODM)
• Network access — the SiteView server must be able to reach the NodeODM server over HTTP
• Hardware — processing performance scales with CPU cores and RAM; a minimum of 16 GB RAM is recommended for production use
• Storage — sufficient disk space for raw images and processed outputs (allow 5-10x the raw image volume)

ℹ️ Did you know?

NodeODM is a separate service from SiteView. It handles the computationally intensive photogrammetry work. SiteView sends images to NodeODM, monitors progress, and retrieves the processed outputs when complete.

What's Next?

• Importing Processed Data — an alternative approach if you already have processed outputs from external software
• Survey Layers & Overlays — view and control your processed survey data on the globe
• Creating Surveys — go back to the survey creation and management page