How many photos do I need?

Photo count is driven by site size, altitude, and overlap — not a fixed number. It also determines your processing cost, so it's worth getting right.

What increases the count

• A larger area, or a lower flight (smaller GSD)
• Higher overlap (more photos of the same ground)
• Oblique orbits added on top of a nadir grid

Photos and credits

On Scout every raw-photo map is paid in photo credits, one per photo, so a tighter capture is a cheaper capture. Pilot and Fleet include a number of maps each month instead, and raw-photo maps beyond them run on credits, where fewer photos again costs less. See plans and photo credits for the specifics.

Keeping it efficient

• Use enough overlap for a clean result, but resist over-capturing uniform ground you don't need in detail.
• Map only the area of interest — extend slightly past the edges, but don't fly the whole county.
• For a 3D-only goal, skip the wide nadir grid and orbit the structures.