From Ground Control Points via DIY Drones:

Ground Control Points, or GCPs, are marked points on the ground that have a known geographic location. In aerial surveying, a drone can be used to autonomously collect photos of the survey area. If used, GCPs must be visible in these aerial photos. The photos are then processed in the cloud using drone mapping software. A common solution for collecting and processing drone data, used by many mapping professionals, is DroneDeploy. Services like DroneDeploy create 2D orthomosaics, 3D models, digital elevation models (DEMs), and 3D point clouds from drone images. For aerial survey applications GCPs, are typically required as they can enhance the positioning and accuracy of the mapping outputs. To do this correctly, the GCPs and desired mapping outputs must use the same ESPG code.

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Welcome to drone day on the Adafruit blog. Every Monday we deliver the latest news, products and more from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), quadcopter and drone communities. Drones can be used for video & photography (dronies), civil applications, policing, farming, firefighting, military and non-military security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. Previous posts can be found via the #drone tag and our drone / UAV categories.