Cost-effective drone options for Esri workflows (photogrammetry + basic LiDAR)

[LeahCharash]

Hi all, I’m looking for recommendations on a cost-effective drone that integrates well with Esri workflows. I have never used a drone before, and am attempting to convince my company to purchase our first. My primary use cases are: • Regular aerial photography for marketing • Photogrammetry (orthomosaics, basic surface models) • Potentially entry-level LiDAR, if feasible within a reasonable budget I work in a consulting environment at a small company, so I’m trying to balance: • Data quality • Reliability / ease of use in the field • Overall cost (including sensors/software compatibility) A few specific questions: • What drone models are you currently using with Esri tools? • Which Esri tools do you use in your drone workflows? • Is LiDAR realistically achievable at a “cost-effective” level, or should I focus on photogrammetry? • Any known compatibility issues or workflow limitations with certain drones/sensors? Appreciate any real-world recommendations or lessons learned. Thank you!

[MarkBarker1]

Hi @LeahCharash ,

From the Esri side, we don’t recommend any specific drone hardware as most drone platforms tend to process fine with Drone2Map if they have the required Exif metadata:

Images – Image Name, Latitude, Longitude, Altitude.

Camera – Focal length, Pixel size on the Sensor, Columns, Rows.

Considering your use cases, you may want to start with a non-lidar drone since those sensors are generally more expensive and instead opt for one that you can attach different payloads. This would leave you with some room to upgrade in the future in case you do decide to go down that route. You can still create 3D products from the point clouds generated through photogrammetry with some impressive results such as our Gaussian splat layer outputs.

Regards,
Mark