What is Skycatch?

Skycatch is an end-to-end solution for generating 2D and 3D data products from data captured using unmanned autonomous aerial vehicles (aka drones). We provide you with all the tools you need to successfully capture, process, and utilize your data to make actionable decisions and share that data with others.

Your workflow with Skycatch may look like the following:

 

Plan (Flight1/ Skycatch Flight App/ other flight apps) → Capture (Explore1/ other drones) → DataHub Upload and Process → DataHub Output Display/ Download

 

How much or how little of the Skycatch ecosystem you choose to use is ultimately your decision. If you already own a drone and only want to use our data processing pipeline to generate your data products, Skycatch supports that. 

For more information, you may view Uploading Drone Captures To DataHub For Processing.

If you only want to use our flight apps to capture aerial imagery using your Drones Skycatch supports that as well.

 

What is Photogrammetry?

Photogrammetry is the process of using multiple, related imagery to extract measurements and 3D positions of surface points to construct an accurate 3D representation of the world. This is achieved by locating and matching distinct features within each photo.

A line of sight (or ray) can then be constructed from the camera location(s) to that feature. Once two or more distinct rays have been drawn to the same point, it becomes possible to estimate the height of that point. And by repeating this process, millions of times, we can then accurately reconstruct a 3D world from your 2D imagery.

 

Our Pipeline Overview

The Skycatch Data Processing Pipeline is the factory that turns your 2D images into 3D objects through the process of photogrammetry. We break this into three main stages:

 

Pre-processing → Processing → Post-Processing

• Pre-processing - In this stage we analyze and prepare your data through Skycatch's in-house photogrammetry engine. Among the things we do is the adjustment of the hue and saturation values of your images, auto-tag Ground Control Points (GCPs) and Checkpoints (CHPs), and parse RTK/ PPK logs (if applicable and available). These are all done to improve the accuracy and quality of the final data products.
• Processing - In this stage, our Engine does its magic and is responsible for stitching the imagery submitted by you into 2D and 3D data products
• Post-processing - In the final stage, we prepare your data for delivery. This includes reprojecting your data into the crs of your choice and transforming your data into a format that can be displayed and accessed through the web or using a varietey of GIS.

Get Started!

If you are interested in trying us out, you may start by using our flight app Flight1 by reading through our walkthrough - Flight1 App Detailed Walkthrough: Basic Features. If you've become interested in our Photogrammetry outputs, our Support team is available 24/7 through support@skycatch.com.