Commercial drone and data company PrecisionHawk has opened access to its professional mapping and analytics software, PrecisionMapper, for free.
By eliminating the cost barrier, operators have the flexibility to “bring their own drone” and consistently generate value from aerial information, the company says.
“Drones have the potential to capture more high-resolution data than any other technology, but we believe that drones are being underutilized because of the cost barriers around processing, analytics and storage,” says PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen. “Users should be able to walk into any store, buy a drone and use that drone to generate business insights for free.”
PrecisionHawk announced the launch of the free version of PrecisionMapper today at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference.
“We believe that this move allows more innovation from more people,” Chasen continues. “PrecisionHawk has gained a lot from the advanced thinking of this community, and this is our way of giving back.”
By providing this software for free, PrecisionHawk is giving drone operators with visual cameras the capability to explore the financial value of aerial data in any industry and is encouraging further use and adoption of UAS technology.
Operators can quickly and easily upload imagery collected from a drone to PrecisionMapper. Using GPS information embedded within images, the software automatically stitches together a complete map, viewable in both 2D and 3D. According to the company, free users of PrecisionMapper can create up to 60 surveys a year without resolution or export limits.
In addition, users can add ground control points and access free analysis tools for construction, agriculture, insurance and energy, including volume calculations; 3D models; contour maps; and multiple crop health indices, including visual-NDVI.
“When professionals have the opportunity to get hands-on experience with PrecisionMapper, they will be able to better understand the power of aerial data and how it can be best incorporated into their existing businesses,” says Chasen.
