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Depending on the extent of your research into the capabilities of the modern drone industry, you might have come across the concept of a thermal roof map. And if you have perused our website, you likely came across the term. So what exactly is a thermal roof map, and how is it beneficial?

In this post, we will discuss this topic at length to ensure you fully understand what a thermal roof map is and how it can augment certain operations.

Drone Orthomosaics

Before we get into the thermal discussion, it’s important to first talk about what an “orthomosaic” is. Simply put, orthomosaic is a fancy term for a map. These maps are high-resolution depictions of terrain or structures that are comprised of many individual photos.

In the drone industry, orthomosaics have become all the rage in recent years — and for good reason. They allow all parties involved in a project to gain a higher level of insight as to the progress or status of the situation on the ground so to speak.

The advent of drone technology has allowed drone operators to quickly, methodically, and relatively cheaply capture aerial imagery in a completely new way.

To avoid any confusion, please note that, for the remainder of this article, the terms “orthomosaic” and “map” will be used interchangeably. In addition, we aim to keep this discussion as simple as possible, so we will simplify some complex topics into easy-to-understand content.

How Orthomosaics Differ from Photos

At first glance, one might easily confuse an orthomosaic with a simple aerial photo. However, an orthomosaic is much more than a photo; a drone map can be comprised of hundreds or even thousands of individual images.

These images are then stitched together using post-processing software, and the end result is a high-resolution 2D map of the area of interest. In layman’s terms, this software references the visible data from the image itself along with the GPS coordinates of the drone when the image was taken.

With this information, the software can then piece the hundreds (or thousands) of individual photos together to arrive at a comprehensive 2D map. You can think of this as a high-resolution Google Maps view of the area.

There is some inherent error in the GPS data from most drones, but the end solution is generally accurate enough for most applications. If greater accuracy is desired, operators can use RTK technology to achieve survey-level accuracy.

Thermal Roof Maps

Now that we have established what an orthomosaic/map actually is, we will discuss the application of this process to achieve a thermal roof map.

A thermal roof map is simply an orthomosaic that is comprised of individual thermograms, or thermal images. Just like the post-processing software can stitch normal photos together, it can do the same with thermal images.

Below is an example of a thermal map of an 11,000-square-foot commercial roof.

You can see how this map provides more visual information than a single photo. For one thing, a drone operator might not legally be able to fly high enough to take a thermal image that captures the entire roof.

And secondly, even if that were possible, there would be a significant amount of image distortion around the edges. This makes interpreting these images more difficult.

Simply put, the orthomosaic approach takes the high-resolution details of a small section of the roof and combines it with hundreds (or thousands) of other images to maximize the available visual data presented in the final product.

Take the above image, for example. With this end product, all parties involved (roofing companies, insurance adjusters, etc.) can view a significant amount of data on the status of the roof in one single “image” so to speak. This data can then better drive the decision-making process.