GSD & Drone Flight Calculator
Ground sample distance, image footprint, flight-line spacing, photo interval and the flight time a mapping mission needs — from your camera's own sensor figures. Works the other way too: enter the GSD the deliverable requires and it returns the altitude to fly.
Camera
Take these five numbers from your camera's own specification sheet. The presets are a starting point — confirm them against the body you actually fly.
Flight
How it is worked out. GSD = sensor pixel pitch × altitude ÷ focal length, computed separately across and along the flight direction; the wider of the two is reported, because that is the one a deliverable is judged on. Footprint is image size × GSD. Photo spacing and line spacing come straight from the overlaps. The blur limit is the speed at which the aircraft moves one allowed pixel of GSD during the exposure. Area figures assume parallel lines flown over a rectangle of the entered area with no terrain following, and the photo count adds a full line of margin at each end — real mission planners add turns, climb-out and a safety reserve, so treat the battery count as a floor, not a promise. Nothing here is drone-specific magic: change any camera number and every result follows it.
What the GSD & Drone Flight Calculator does, and how
What does the BTPL GSD & Drone Flight Calculator do?
The BTPL GSD & Drone Flight Calculator computes ground sample distance (GSD), image footprint, flight-line spacing, photo interval, number of photos, flying time and a minimum battery count for a photogrammetric mapping mission (turns, climb-out, transit and reserve are not included), from the sensor size, focal length and image dimensions of your own camera, the flying height and the forward and side overlap.
Can it tell me what altitude to fly for a required GSD?
The BTPL GSD & Drone Flight Calculator works in reverse as well: enter the GSD the deliverable requires and it returns the flying height that achieves it with your camera, together with the resulting footprint and spacing. It also reports the maximum flying speed that keeps motion blur within the number of pixels you allow at the exposure time entered, and says whether your flight speed is within that limit.
Is my mission data uploaded anywhere?
Nothing is uploaded: the BTPL GSD & Drone Flight Calculator computes everything in your own browser, and the figures you enter are never sent to a server. It keeps working without an internet connection once the page has loaded.
Drone survey delivered end to end
BTPL flies UAV photogrammetry and LiDAR with ground control and check points, and delivers orthomosaics, DSM/DTM, contours and CAD — with the accuracy documented.