MrSID for your Commercial Drone Image Compression Needs
- Anvita Shrivastava
- Jan 8
- 3 min read
Commercial drone usage is increasing across several industries (e.g., surveying, mapping, construction, and agriculture). The amount of high-quality images captured is rapidly increasing; consequently, managing, storing, and distributing these images has become an overwhelming technical obstacle for many drone operators.
LizardTech's MrSID image compression technology currently provides a reliable enterprise-level method to manage large quantities of drone images, while also providing superior image quality and performance.
The Challenge of Drone Imagery at Scale
Currently, modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) use very high-resolution sensors to capture very detailed images or video, which generate the following types of raw raster data:
Gigabytes to terabytes of rasterized data generated for each project.
Large orthomosaics, digital surface models (DSMs), and multi-band (i.e., NIR, RGB, etc.) images,
Short turnaround times required for client and other stakeholder delivery; and
Traditional raster image file formats are very often bottlenecks that result in slower-than-expected data transfer rates, higher-than-expected cost of storing raster data in a data center, and limited usability in either Web or desktop geographic information systems (GIS).
MrSID image compression of drone imagery presents a unique opportunity to solve this problem.
What is MrSID image compression?
MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database) is a high-performance raster image format specifically developed for the purpose of managing very large geospatial images or photos. MrSID allows the efficient storage and rapid access to generate a large number of images while preserving the spatial accuracy and visual quality of the images.
MrSID supports both lossless and lossy compression of raster images. Therefore, MrSID is well-suited to work with all phases of the workflow for a commercial drone operator, including the areas of analysis, visualization, and distribution of images.
Why Use MrSID for Commercial Drone Imagery?
Significant File Size Reduction
MrSID delivers industry-leading compression ratios, often reducing drone imagery file sizes by 10x to 30x or more, depending on data type and compression settings. This translates directly into:
Lower storage costs
Faster uploads and downloads
Easier long-term data management
Multi-Resolution Capability
The MrSID compression technology stores drone images in a multi-resolution pyramid format. This allows for:
Instantaneous zoom and pan for very large images
Ability to only load what resolution is needed for your task
Improved performance in GIS, photogrammetry, and web mapping applications
This is particularly advantageous when working with large drone orthomosaics and corridor mapping projects.
Lossless Compression vs. Controlled Lossy Compression
For those who require pixel-perfect accuracy, the MrSID lossless compression method provides the highest level of compression, thus retaining every original image's pixel. For those who plan to use images for visualizing or delivering, the controlled lossy compression provides a reduction in file size while maintaining excellent fidelity.
This flexibility allows commercial drone operators to provide customers with output that is suitable for analysis, archiving, or delivering to the client.
Geospatial Integrity and Metadata Support
MrSID has complete geospatial integrity and metadata support, including:
Embedded georeferencing
Coordinate Systems and Projections
Multi-band Imagery and Metadata
This guarantees that drone imagery is ready for analysis and can be used on any of the leading GIS or Remote Sensing Platforms.
Support Across the Entire Industry for MrSID
Large amounts of geospatial software that work with or support MrSID are available, which allow it to work seamlessly with other drone processing tools in your existing systems. Regardless of whether you are using desktop GIS, enterprise systems, or web services to access imagery, MrSID provides you with fast and effective access to that imagery.
Utilisation of MrSID By Drone Operators
The most common applications of MrSID image compression in the operation of drones are to compress images produced through:
Creating large-scale maps and orthomosaics using drone images
Carrying out inspections of infrastructure and/or corridors
Monitoring construction sites and projects
Conducting precision agriculture and analysing crop conditions
Performing environmental and disaster response monitoring
In cases where an organisation plans to conduct repeated drone flights over a period of time, the MrSID format also provides an easy method of storing historical images to assist in the comparison and analysis of images.
Preparing For The Future of Drone Image Processing
As the quality of drone sensors continues to improve and regulations facilitate their increased commercial use, the volume of drone imagery will continue to increase. Organisations must establish a scalable (or expandable) and well-proven method for compressing drone imagery to maintain the ability to process imagery efficiently.
The MrSID product developed by LizardTech (a GeoWGS84 Company) has been widely utilised by governmental agencies and commercial organisations, as well as geospatial specialists, for many years. MrSID provides users with the same high level of reliability and performance for processing drone imagery as it has for other types of image processing.
For more information or any questions regarding the LizardTech suite of products, please don't hesitate to contact us at:
Email: info@geowgs84.com
USA (HQ): (720) 702–4849
(A GeoWGS84 Corp Company)
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