About DroneDeploy

DroneDeploy is a global leader in reality capture software, offering tools for aerial drone mapping and site documentation with ground-based robotics, 360 cameras and 3D LiDAR scanning. Industries ranging from construction and energy to property management and agriculture rely on DroneDeploy’s solutions to analyze data, streamline operations, and improve decision-making. With a strong focus on providing cutting-edge mapping capabilities, DroneDeploy continuously innovates to meet the evolving needs of its customers.

Mapping needs outgrew open source

Visual presentation of mapping data is a central part of what DroneDeploy provides to their customers. For example, the DroneDeploy map interface compares captured data to 2D or 3D model data, such as design files and terrain models to track construction progress to plan. Smooth and crisp map visuals are central to the usability and performance of their applications.

DroneDeploy initially built their mapping interfaces with Leaflet and other open source code. As DroneDeploy grew, maintaining a modern, high-performance mapping interface began to present challenges. Their existing maps, built with Leaflet for web, began to fall short in delivering the polished, interactive experience customers expected. Customers wanted to see faster, high-quality maps to seamlessly overlay data and perform interactions such as measuring distance. To stay ahead of their competition, DroneDeploy needed a location technology partner that could enable a superior user experience efficiently and at scale.

Mapbox offers advanced and developer-friendly solutions for web and mobile

Mapbox GL JS offers the advanced capabilities, flexibility, and improved performance that DroneDeploy was looking for. DroneDeploy overhauled its desktop web user interface, building with Mapbox GL and the Mapbox satellite-streets style. The result is a sharp, smooth, and highly responsive mapping experience that provides a major upgrade to how users interact with their data within the DroneDeploy interface.

Switching to Mapbox improves developer efficiency

Adopting Mapbox GL for web has improved development velocity for DroneDeploy. Rather than needing to piece together, modify, and maintain code from various open source forks, DroneDeploy engineers can take advantage of the extensive library of features and optimizations that Mapbox has invested in. 

As an example of how Mapbox improves efficiency, DroneDeploy now uses Mapbox Studio to maintain a collection of custom symbol icons for media markers. This makes it possible to show the icon by name in a single file, where previously to work with a new icon, engineers had to touch approximately eight different code files. Similarly, because Mapbox is based on GeoJSON data standards, data is easy to generate and understand from a developer perspective.

With features like drawing and measurement natively supported by Mapbox, DroneDeploy’s development process became more efficient, unlocking the ability to launch new map-based features faster. 

Faster maps and faster time to value for customers

By transitioning to Mapbox for web, DroneDeploy has modernized its mapping tech stack and enriched the user experience of its core product. The new map features and improved performance delivers the fast, smooth, high-quality maps that customers want. Building with Mapbox has not only elevated DroneDeploy’s mapping capabilities but has also strengthened its reputation as a pioneering leader in the reality capture space.

Customers have responded positively to the new maps, particularly praising the ability to rotate the view to different orientations, visualize design file overlays more accurately, and quickly zoom in and out of large maps without losing detail and resolution.