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# Orthomosaics without the cloud
- URL: https://matteson.ca/notes/orthomosaics-without-the-cloud/
- Published: 2026-06-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-22T20:00:50.000Z
- Description: Stitching survey flights locally: what ODM gets right, where it falls over, and why the GPU matters less than the overlap.
- Author: Matteson Machielse
- Tags: Spatial Imaging, #Import 2026-07-11 07:11, #Import 2026-07-15 05:50

Every orthomosaic tutorial assumes you will upload forty gigabytes of survey imagery to somebody else’s computer. The whole point of the homelab is that I don’t have to.

OpenDroneMap in a container does the job if you feed it discipline: 75% front overlap, 65% side, and a flight plan that doesn’t improvise. The GPU barely matters — it’s RAM and patience.

Where it falls over: water, canola in bloom, and anything that moves. Same as the paid tools, they just apologize more politely.

![](https://matteson.ca/content/images/2026/07/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-22--2026-at-02_00_24-PM.png)