Lab 1: E​ xercise 

  Flight plan and project creation 

 
Lab objectives 
This introductory session will focus on acquiring familiarity with the fundamental concepts of 
photogrammetry and Pix4D. Learning outcomes for this lab exercise include a comprehensive 
understanding of: 
 
● Ground sampling distance (GSD) 
● Flight Types 
● Image overlap 
● Ground Control Points (GCP) 

Ground sampling distance 

The ground sampling distance (GSD) expresses the distance between the centers of two adjacent 
pixels. GSD is typically measured in centimeter/pixel or inch/pixel and indicates the resolution of 
an image. 
 
It is possible to estimate the GSD of an image using a few basic parameters and simple arithmetic. 
 
The following information is an example of the type of information required to estimate the GSD of 
an image. For example, a popular camera’s sensor width is 6.17 mm, sensor resolution is 4000x3000 
pixels, i.e., 12 MP, and focal length is 3.6 mm. Note that Pix4D always uses physical focal length 
(mm), and never 35-mm equivalent. 
 
If you use this camera to capture images of an object that is 50 meters away what will be the 
average GSD of the images that represent the object? 
 
Hint:​ The GSD (cm/pixel) is given by the formula:  
   
f light height (m) * sensor width (mm)
f ocal length (mm) * sensor width (pixel) * 100  

Image overlap in time-lapse mode 

When acquiring imagery using the time-lapse mode, it is useful to estimate the frontal image 
overlap prior to flying. Without estimating frontal image overlap it will not be possible to ensure 
that you are capturing sufficient image overlap as the camera moves across the project area.  

 
 
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The idea when estimating the frontal image overlap is to compute the footprint of the image on the 
ground and to see how much the image footprint moves with a horizontal displacement of the 
sensor. The associated computations are explained here: 
https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202557479​. 
 
A similar approach can be used to compute the side image overlap.  

Ground control points 

To provide high geolocation accuracy, one approach is to use ground control points (GCPs). GCPs 
are targets visible in the imagery with coordinates that have been precisely measured. How many 
GCPs are needed in a single grid nadir flight with a drone? 

Image quality 
Proper mission planning is imperative to ensure that you capture high-quality images. If this is your 
first mission, you can conduct a test flight to ensure the images are in focus and correctly exposed. 
You can find Pix4D’s recommendations here: 
https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202557419​. 
 
Once you have acquired a set of high-quality images you can create a new Pix4Dmapper project. 
 
Hint:​ ​If you do not have images, you can use the images from Pix4D’s example datasets, 
  available at ​https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000235126​. 

Image geolocation 
In the ​Image Properties​ window of the N ​ ew Project​ wizard, there is a column for horizontal and 
vertical accuracy (see ​Figure 1​). What do these numbers represent? 
 

 
 
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Figure 1 
 
The next window will ask you to select the ​Output Coordinate System​. Which coordinate system did 
you choose? What influence does this have on the project? 

Processing templates 
The final window of the N
​ ew Project​ wizard is the T​ emplates​ window. The most appropriate 
template will depend on the flight plan, the image acquisition angle, and your desired outputs. 
Which processing template suits your particular project best? 
 
 

 
 
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