Using ArcGIS Pro

 Introduction

ArcGIS Pro is a data processing app that is a very powerful piece of software allowing you to layer your stitched images on top of a map and customize the map to fit that data. We covered ArcGIS a few times and this semester we used it for 3 labs. One was a recap following their online tutorials, the next is cartography fundamentals and finally, there was a volumetrics lab.

Figure 1: ArcGIS Pro icon

ArcPro Recap

The tutorial was on tourist locations in Singapore. This involved importing tourist locations for the area, removing excess information, and coloring the map so that it is easily readable. It also included a map tutorial to design a map at the end so that we had a finished product. The final product is visible in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Final Map from the Tutorial

Cartography Fundamentals

The next lab that was given was a cartography fundamentals lab which outlined the necessary components for a map. They were; a north arrow, scale bar, locator map, watermark, and data sources (like sensor, altitude, etc.). Within the lab, we were given DSM files (critical for hillshade) to use when looking at the hills and slope degrees, from there we were taught how to create a map from the image that we have taken and then how to add all of the fundamentals required. Here there are 2 figures, the first was of a hillshade, this is useful to look at volumetrics which will be covered in the next section. The second image compares the angles of the slopes and highlights them accordingly.

Figure 3: Hillshade

Figure 3: Shaded Slope

Volumetrics

The Final lab we had with ArcGIS was a volumetric analysis, which is simply in this case measuring a pile as the ground is dug up and as the dirt is hauled away. ArcGIS Pro also has the ability to highlight areas and tell the approximate volume, here in figure 4 is an RGB image with a DSM underneath used for the volume analysis. The highlighted areas around the 3 piles are the area that's measured.

Figure 4: RGB surface volume

The other volume calculation that ArcGIS Pro can do is take a series of volume measurements over time and then compare them in a final product. Figures 5-7 are the series photos that were used for the final product Figure 8.  Here the highlighted area of the 3 flights changes based on how much dirt was dug and then transported away. 

Figure 5: The first flight over the area

Figure 6: The second flight over the area

Figure 7: The final flight over the area

After these three flights were flown the final map can be made and finalized. This map compares the net gain, to the loss and also records the unchanged portion. Here the red is where there was a net gain and the blue is the net loss.

Figure 8: The final Volumetric Analysis

Conclusion

ArcGIS Pro is a powerful program that can do a lot given the right data. Their helpful online help forms guide you through the process of creating any map or dataset that you would need for work within the industry. Once again a drone is shown how much it can change the industry, as traditionally a person would have to take measurements all around a pile and then figure the volume. Now it is just as simple as a flight over a pile and a analysis to figure out the values.