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How to clip an orthophoto and export it
Kayley Greenland avatar
Written by Kayley Greenland
Updated over a year ago

Clipping and exporting an orthophoto can be useful if you haven't used a KML during the processing stage or you just want to take a portion of the orthophoto with you.

This article will take you through the steps on how to clip, how to export and the transformation settings available should you require a different output projection.


How to clip an orthophoto

First, you will need to ensure you are in a mission where you have an orthophoto you need to clip.

  1. Open your selected mission

  2. Open the orthophoto tab

  3. Right click the orthophoto you want to clip

  4. Select clip

5. Either select an existing annotation by clicking it on the map or

6. Define the area you want to clip with a new polygon that covers the area of interest.

7. Select set selected annotation

8. Select clip

9. We will clip the orthophoto to your designated KML and you will receive an email when its complete

As the clipping needs to take place behind the scenes it may take some time to produce the file.

When the file has finished you will be able to jump back into the mission and find the clipped orthophoto in your layers.

10. Once the clipping is complete, you can export the clipped orthophoto in the format of your choice, such as GeoTIFF or JPEG. The next section will explain how you can do this and what settings are available.


How to export an orthophoto

Once the clipping is complete, you can export the clipped orthophoto in the format of your choice.

  1. Open your selected mission

  2. Open the orthophoto tab

  3. Right click the orthophoto you want to export

  4. Select export

5. Select the export settings you need

6. Select export

7. We will transform the orthophoto to your desired settings and you will receive an email when its complete

Again the export needs to take place behind the scenes and it may take some time to produce the file.

When the file has finished you will be able to jump back into the mission and find the exported orthophoto in media under an 'exports' objective.

You will be able to find the file under media filtered by a new ‘Exports’ objective. We do not display the orthophoto on the map at this stage as it is not the original version.


Transformation settings explained

Output format

TIFF and JPEG are both commonly used image file formats, but they have some fundamental differences.

  1. Compression: TIFF files are usually uncompressed or use lossless compression, which preserves all of the image data, while JPEG files use lossy compression, which compresses the data by removing some of the image information. As a result, JPEG files are generally smaller in size than TIFF files, but may have some quality loss.

  1. Color depth: TIFF files can support a higher color depth, up to 16 bits per channel, which means they can capture more detail and produce higher quality images. JPEG files are usually limited to 8 bits per channel, which is sufficient for most common use cases.

  1. Transparency: TIFF files can include an alpha channel for transparency, which allows for more advanced image manipulation. JPEG files do not support transparency.


Overall, TIFF files are better suited for high-quality image storage and manipulation, while JPEG files are better suited for web-based applications and situations where smaller file sizes are necessary.

Output resolution

Output resolution refers to the number of pixels that will be used to display or print an image. It is commonly measured in dots per inch (dpi) or pixels per inch (ppi).

For example, an image with an output resolution of 300 dpi will have 300 pixels per inch when printed, resulting in a high-quality, detailed image. On the other hand, an image with an output resolution of 72 dpi may appear blurry or pixelated.

You can export the orthophotos at their native resolution or x 25% or 50% .

Output projection transformation

Output projection transformation refers to the process of transforming the output into a desired format or representation.

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