We just moved from North Dallas to a larger lot in Southwest Dallas.
Now I’m trying to get a finer terrain mapping to understand my property better and to find the best location to build a workshop with a minimum of clearing and excavation. The soil is very thin on top of degraded limestone escarpment.
City of Dallas public GIS map has 20’ contour lines which gives us a rough description:
Our new house is at the 700’ elevation
The back yard descends 60 ft in elevation over about 400 ft, so about a 9 degree slope on average with some plateaus and drops
The lot is heavily treed with dense undergrowth that makes it hard to explore
I’m looking for resources on lidar mapping that can penetrate the canopy to find the floor, but I don’t have the equipment and I know this is a still not a DIY option. I’m also looking at photogrammetry options, though the tree cover may limit that approach. Most of the coverage is evergreen so the falling leaves only help a bit. I have a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. I also have access to RTK GPS for setting GCPs.
So are there folks here doing drone mapping? There have been a lot of developments in the field since this was last discussed here. Seeking guidance and recommendations.