Drone photos are excellent for checking in on a site — they show progress, highlight activity, and give a quick visual record. The challenge comes when you need more than visibility. If you want accurate measurements or a true top-down map of the area, you need an orthomosaic.
An orthomosaic is a seamless, top-down map created by stitching together many overlapping aerial images and correcting them for scale and distortion. The result isn’t just a photo — it’s a true-to-scale map you can measure, analyze, and build workflows on.
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What is an orthomosaic map?
An orthomosaic map is a high-resolution, accurate image made by stitching together many overlapping aerial photos. Unlike a simple photo, it’s corrected for distortion and scale, so distances and measurements on the map are true to life. This makes orthomosaics useful for surveying, construction, mining, agriculture, and more.
How are orthomosaics created?
The process starts with a drone flight. As the drone flies, it captures hundreds of overlapping images from above. When these are uploaded and processed in a geospatial platform like Birdi, the images get stitched together and corrected for lens distortion, perspective, and terrain.
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What you end up with is a seamless, top-down map where every pixel is geometrically accurate. Unlike a standard aerial photo, orthomosaics are corrected for distortion and scale, so you can rely on them for precise distance and area measurements.
Why orthomosaics matter
Orthomosaics combine visual clarity with measurement accuracy. They’re used to track progress over time, like watching a construction site develop or a section of land being cleared. They’re also a practical tool for measuring areas — think stockpile footprints, excavation zones, or surface coverage.
Equally important, they make communication easier. A single orthomosaic can show stakeholders exactly what’s happening on site, without the need to interpret notes, photos, or technical drawings. And because they’re often the foundation for adding other layers — such as digital elevation models, annotations, or inspection markers — they’re a central piece of most geospatial workflows.
Use cases across industries
In construction, orthomosaics provide a reliable way to monitor progress and validate that work has been completed to plan. In mining and quarrying, they’re used to track pits and stockpiles, and to keep an eye on environmental impact. Utilities rely on them to inspect corridors, document assets, and plan maintenance programs without needing to send teams into the field every time. And in government, orthomosaics support urban planning, land management, and environmental monitoring.
No matter the industry, the value is the same: turning raw drone imagery into a map that can be measured, analyzed, and shared.
Orthomosaics vs other outputs
Orthomosaics are sometimes confused with other geospatial outputs. A digital elevation model (DEM), for instance, represents the ground surface in 3D and is often used for slope analysis or volume calculations. Point clouds and textured meshes go even further, creating detailed 3D models that engineers and designers can work with.
The difference is that orthomosaics are flat, accurate, and simple to use. They don’t replace other outputs, but they often serve as the first, most accessible layer in a broader mapping workflow.
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Orthomosaic maps make it possible to turn raw drone captures into a reliable, shareable, and measurable view of your site. They’re the foundation of modern geospatial work, helping industries move beyond ground photos and paper reports toward interactive, data-rich collaboration.
With a platform like Birdi, you can upload drone imagery, process it into an orthomosaic, and start measuring, annotating, commenting on and sharing results in one place.
