Recently got asked about doing a flight of a golf course, specifically their greens, and the request was for 1" contours. I know it’s not a native setting, but is there a 3rd party app I could use for this or should I start looking for software?
Are you sure it wasn’t contours in inch units? I’ve done 6" contours but one inch with drone data would pretty much be a solid mask. Even on greens that’s way to much data to look at and creates hundreds of artifact contours that symbolize little flat spots. Even if you’re running RTK you’re unlikely to maintain 75% accuracy on one inch.
@MichaelL when he told me he wanted contours at 1" intervals I pretty much told him the same thing. Main reason I’m asking is because he said that the person he usually uses is able to do it so I’m more curious than anything. Thanks!
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I get it. I too have crazy requests from clients. The previous person probably said something like “we can provide contours to within an inch” (of accuracy) and the client took it as inch by inch contours. Or some misinterpretation like that. Anyone who has looked at drone contours knows they look like fractals and even 6" contours can be had to look at. It would probably be best to take your DEM or Point Cloud and create those contours outside of processing so you can control the look and number of artifacts. I can’t tell you how many clients I have asked me to “make the contours look better” without the understanding that any decimation decreases accuracy. I make sure they understand the contours are per ASPRS standards of 0.2ft/1ft but if they want the real accuracy they need to be using a TIN. If they don’t know what a TIN (mesh,DEM) is then the contours are fine for them.