"Achieve Location Intelligence with Site Scan for ArcGIS" Webinar

[SarahPowell1]

We thank those who were able to attend the Esri petroleum webinar held on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, entitled Achieve Location Intelligence with Site Scan for ArcGIS.

We hope you were inspired by our presentation, made by the imagery and remote sensing team, that showcased Esri's cutting-edge drone technology. We wanted to convey how easily drone tasking and imaging can be integrated into existing operations of petroleum companies. By adopting drone flights as part of their regular workflows, companies are propelling their organizational practices to the next level, allowing them to obtain immense business value.

Q&A Section

Q. Does this set of tools replace Drone2Map?
A. Site Scan for ArcGIS is not replacing Drone2Map and the product will continue to be developed. Drone2Map is a great tool for smaller drone programs and organizations who require local processing for disconnected or low-bandwidth environments.

Q. Are these tools available in ArcGIS Enterprise GIS?
A. Currently Site Scan for ArcGIS is only available in the cloud and not on-premises.

Q. What is the time processing compared to using Drone2Map? How long does processing take?
A. With Drone2Map for ArcGIS, the processing time depends on the hardware specifications of the machine processing the data. Site Scan for ArcGIS will use cloud computing and does not require a powerful computer to process.  Because of this, generally Site Scan for ArcGIS will process more quickly than Drone2Map for ArcGIS.  Processing time is also dependent upon your project size and how many photos need to be processed. 

Q. Are you able to upload other types of drone data to ArcGIS Earth (i.e. Wingtra Drones, etc.)?
A. Yes.

Q. What is the difference between Site Scan and Drone2Map?
A. Site Scan for ArcGIS comes with additional capabilities not available in Drone2Map for cloud processing and storage, flight planning, and a web application where you can perform some imagery analysis.

Q. Can existing shapefiles be used in flight planning for the drones?
A. You can publish shapefiles to ArcGIS Online as hosted feature services which can be used in the flight planning application.

Q. Can you expand on the integration and compatibility of SiteScan to a cloud based instance of ArcGIS Enterprise?
A. Currently you have the ability to publish your drone imagery products from Site Scan directly into ArcGIS Enterprise.

Q. Where can I obtain further information on image recognition workflows/techniques (e.g., to identify and georeference well locations)?
A. You can find more information about object detection workflows here: using deep learning for feature extraction and classification [https://doc.arcgis.com/en/imagery/workflows/resources/using-deep-learning-for-feature-extraction.htm] and object detection workflow with arcgis.learn [https://developers.arcgis.com/python/guide/object-detection/].

Q. What is the licensing model?
A. Site Scan is available by annual subscription.

Q. Any plans for indoor scan integrations to compliment an indoor GIS model?
A. ArcGIS Pro has tools (such as the LAS Toolset) for working with terrestrial scan data.

Q. Does this integrate with Workforce for ArcGIS and the other mobility tools?
A. You can publish the imagery processed with Site Scan for ArcGIS to ArcGIS Online and use it in mobile applications such as Explorer for ArcGIS, Collector for ArcGIS, and more.

Q. Can the cut/fill process be used to generate containment calcs?
A. Yes, the cut fill tools could be used to calculate the volume of containment areas.

Q. Does the software allow me to plan to take pictures at some specific points, at a specific angle, during the flight? For example, I want the drone to go to the end of the line, make a 360º turn taking pictures at some specific point, move to the next point, do the same until the end of the plan, and then return to the home location?
A. Yes, this can be done with the "Inspect" flight mode.

Q. Is there a trial available?
A. Yes, there are trials for Site Scan for ArcGIS. Please contact your account manager or one of the webinar presenters.

Q. Does imagery consume a substantial amount of credits in ArcGIS online?
A. Imagery in Site Scan for ArcGIS does not consume any ArcGIS Online credits. ArcGIS Online credits will only be consumed once the imagery is shared there. At that point it will consume the same number of credits as other imagery which is optimized to help you store large quantities of data.

Q. Can we create a raster mosaic dataset of all flown missions?
A. Yes, you can make a mosaic dataset of all flown missions. To do this, you would download the products you want to mosaic and bring them into ArcGIS Pro where you could build a mosaic dataset. Then you could publish this dataset using ArcGIS Image Server.

Q. What is the difference between Site Scan for ArcGIS and Site Scan LE?
A. Site Scan for ArcGIS is a comprehensive drone mapping platform. Site Scan LE (available on the Esri Marketplace) is an iOS-based flight planning app.

Q. Does this process incorporate UAV positional data (such as RTK, GPS, or PPK data) to improve the positional quality?
A. Yes, Site Scan for ArcGIS supports RTK/PPK workflows.

Q. Is it possible to combine ground-based laser scanner point cloud data with the drone-based point cloud data to develop more complete 3D models of complex facilities?
A. ArcGIS Pro and the Spatial Analyst extension have tools (such as the LAS Toolset) for working with point clouds to create 3D models.

Q. Once you have all the drone imagery in the field, can you give orders to the drone to retake imagery in a particular area?
A. Yes, you can instruct the drone to refly previously flown areas to capture the same extent.

Q. Are there any APIs available for this platform?
A. There is an API to export data from the Site Scan for ArcGIS application.