As a beta release, this feature is designed for early access for all Sphere XG customers with a Point Cloud subscription and will continue to evolve, shaped by real customer feedback and ongoing improvements.
Sphere XG lets you bring drone data into your projects alongside floor plans, 360° photos and terrestrial scans. Once uploaded, your drone photos are automatically processed and aligned, giving you an integrated 3D view that combines aerial and ground-level captures in one place. This helps you get a complete picture of your site and work with all your data from a single project.
Find more information on drone captures in our Best Practice article.
No Sphere XG Account Yet? Find all relevant information under Create Sphere XG Account and Sign in.
Create a New Project and Upload Drone Data
Create a New Project and Upload Drone Data
A project in Sphere XG is the central space where all data is collected, processed and aligned in a way that the different types of data complement each other. With the drone data functionality, you can now combine scans and 360° photos with drone data.
Let's get started!
1. Create a new project as described in Create Projects in Sphere XG.
2. On the Bring Your Data into the Cloud page, click the Drone data tile.
3. In the file system, select the folder containing the drone data and upload.
NOTE: Photos must have a GPS location. Otherwise, an error message will be displayed.
The following page will be displayed.
This getting started guide focuses on the automatic publishing option.
If you want to know more about the process and the process options, read article Process and Register Scans starting from section Workflow type and publishing options. The process is similar for drone data.
4. Click Import.
The automatic workflow will start.
The drone data will be uploaded, processed, registered and published.
During each workflow step, the progress and status are displayed, see figure above.
If the registration finishes successfully, you will get a notification in Sphere XG and via email. In addition, this page will be displayed.
You are now good to go.
5. Click the Let's start! button to open your project.
Make Measurements in the 3D View
Make Measurements in the 3D View
Measuring lengths, distances and perimeters is essential for planning a project.
1. Click the point in the view where you want to start the measurement.
2. Drag the mouse to the next measurement point and click.
3. Repeat the above step if you need more than one measurement point.
4. To finish the measurement, double-click the end measurement point or press the ESC key.
To finish a perimeter measurement, click the first measurement point.
To undo the last measurement(s), press the backspace key.
NOTE: Currently, you can only make measurements in the 3D view, not in the walk mode view. Measurements rely on capture metadata (GPS, RTK, or PPK) and external validation only and may not be survey-grade accurate.
Clicking the 
icon allows you to convert the measurement into an annotation.
For more detailed information on measurements, check out the articles under Make Measurements in Your Project.
Add Annotations to Points of Interest in the 3D View
Add Annotations to Points of Interest in the 3D View
Annotations are information markers that you can add to a specific point in your project. By adding a due date, and a status as well as an assignee, you can use annotations as tasks in your project. You can also attach files to annotations.
NOTE: Currently, you can only add annotations in the point cloud, not in the walk mode view.
1. Click the 
icon in the toolbar on the right side.
2. Click the point in the view where you want to place the annotation.
3. Fill in the annotation form.
4. Click Create to create the annotation.
Measure Stockpiles and Depressions
Measure Stockpiles and Depressions
Drone captures are an excellent means to capture stockpiles or depressions. With the volumen analysis tool in Sphere XG, you can measure the volume of these stockpiles and depressions.
To create a volume analysis:
1. Click the 
icon in the toolbar on the right side when a point cloud is active in the scene. The cursor changes to crosshairs.
2. Click to create a polygon of the area you want to analyze.
This initiates the analysis.
3. In the Analysis toolbar, open the topmost dropdown and select the Volume entry.
This will enable the volume analysis settings.
4. Adapt the volume analysis settings.
5. To save the analysis in the project permanently, click the 
icon in the analysis toolbar.
Note that you need at least the Project Editor role to save the volume analysis.
For further settings in the Point Cloud Analysis too, see Run a Point Cloud Analysis and General Settings in the Point Cloud Analysis Tool.