Site Scan for ArcGIS – a Powerful Tool for Teaching, Research or Campus Asset Management
Site Scan for ArcGIS is a cloud-based drone imagery processing product which provides complete end-to-end drone mapping software from drone flight planning, pre-flight checklist, fleet management, processing, analytics, and sharing. Drone flight data can be processed into 2D and 3D outputs through a scalable cloud environment. Once ready, these products can be immediately accessible anywhere and by any device needing only an internet connection.
For educational institutions, Site Scan for ArcGIS can be a fantastic way to empower faculty members, students, and researchers who are doing research with drones on a wide variety of topics ranging from Agriculture to Architecture. It can also be used for administrative staff entrusted with maintaining the different buildings and assets abundant on these campuses.
The software is extremely easy to use, includes tools to help you carefully plan and execute your drone flight, offers several analysis tools, and seamlessly integrates with your existing ArcGIS Online organization or ArcGIS Image Server environment. Site Scan for ArcGIS is a cloud platform which means you can start a drone image processing workflow and then continue to work on other tasks while it is running in the Esri cloud. The cloud configuration also means that your results can be easily shared with other stakeholders to increase the collaboration within your organization and beyond. Outputs generated from Site Scan can be brought into ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online and analyzed further and then shared through the different Esri apps such as StoryMaps, Dashboards and Web Apps.
Teaching
Faculty and Staff who are teaching in educational institutions can incorporate Site Scan for ArcGIS in their Remote Sensing courses as part of the drone mapping lessons. Because Site Scan for ArcGIS is drone agnostic and can process most of the sensors that are currently being used, it can be incorporated in amy different classes to cover basemap creation of an area, multi-spectral and thermal imagery, and 3D object reconstruction. For more advanced courses, Site Scan for ArcGIS supports adding Ground Control Points to generate more accurate outputs and to enable accurate change detection between basemaps of an area collected at separate times. The software also has basic analysis tools such as NDVI, contour creation and elevation profiles which teachers can use in various drone mapping courses. The software does not require any expensive hardware and students just need a user account and an internet connection to work with it, making it an ideal resource for beginners.
Research
Researchers can use it to generate 2D orthomosaics of their drone imagery, share the results with their colleagues using ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Image Server and then run different analysis using the many Raster Functions and Geoprocessing Tools available in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online. Site Scan for ArcGIS can also support multi-spectral drone imagery and generate products such as NDVI which is commonly used in plant health studies. In addition, bio-mass estimates can be made by generating point clouds and different Surface Models to support Forestry research. Site Scan for ArcGIS can also generate 3D textured meshes that are useful for accurate simulations of urban environments and for various 3D analysis tasks such as understanding the effects of shade and line of sight in built-up areas. Researchers can use any type of drone to fly and capture the imagery as the product supports most sensor types. Our team is also extremely interested in learning about new sensors being used and working with you to add them to the growing list of supported sensors.
Campus Administration
Administrative staff can take advantage of Site Scan for ArcGIS for multiple asset inspection and asset management tasks and for common requirements such as monitoring of construction progress. By utilizing drones, hard to reach places can be inspected without having to place your staff in harm's way. Drones can also be used to generated 3D textured models of the buildings in your campus so that you can simulate several types of environmental scenarios and for use by the public safety team to understand safe evacuation procedures in emergency procedures. The license for administrative use is discounted for educational institutions and includes an unlimited number of users and varying levels of image caps so that you can start small and gradually scale up.
In both cases, Site Scan for ArcGIS includes a system that can record your drone flight times, battery usage, different certifications, and pilot usage so that you can easily manage your growing drone fleet. We have seen many drone programs that start out with just one drone and then over time increase their capabilities and staff and Site Scan for ArcGIS is built to support this evolution at every stage.
Licensing and Resources
In short, Site Scan for ArcGIS is a comprehensive cloud-based solution for staff at Educational Institutions that are using drones for teaching, research activities or that need to manage campus assets more efficiently.
If your campus already has a drone program, Esri can help you connect with the right people in your program to determine if the program’s drones can be used for the tasks. We can also help you set up a drone mapping program by providing guidance on best practices for flying patterns and tutorials that you can customize to build up your drone mapping curriculum.
As a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, SiteScan for ArcGIS is not part of the Esri Education Agreement. However, we do offer education pricing that is lower than the commercial price. If you would like more information, please contact your respective Account Manager.
For more information, please visit our SiteScan for ArcGIS website, or review previous articles we posted on this topic (see here and here). Esri Academy also offers a couple of free web courses: Getting Started with Site Scan for ArcGIS and Creating Imagery Products with Site Scan for ArcGIS..
Please feel free to contact Canserina Kurnia (ckurnia@esri.com) or Asaf Even-Paz (aeven@esri.com) for more information.