One of the current limitations of public satellite data is the spatial resolution. Currently, the highest resolution for freely available data is 10m wide pixels. While higher resolutions, 15cm-1m wide pixels, can be purchased from commercial sources, to achieve even higher resolution, the Earth observation community has turned to drones.

Compared to satellites, drones can produce higher-resolution imagery and can be cheaper for small and bespoke purposes. However, they require continuous costs for maintenance and deployment (including pilot and crew). Satellites do not require this as – once launched and operational – they are more or less fully autonomous for their 5-30 year service period. Because of this, satellite data can be cheaper for analysing large land areas over long time periods.

While Earth observation and drone imagery are often used synergistically, drone data by itself is considered outside the scope of the activities of ASDAF. Despite this, the value of drone data to the Earth observation community is clear, and as such, below is a non-exhaustive list of freely available drone resources. Please note, this page is not regularly updated, so if you are an Australian company with freely available drone repositories and wish to be included here, please e-mail us at info@asdaf.space