Guide

Do you need a subscription to process an orthophoto from 2,000 images?

Pay per job, no subscription. See what an orthophoto from 2,000 images costs at our list price, when a subscription makes sense and what you get for a construction site.

By Lars Lindved

Bottom line

No. You do not need a monthly subscription for an occasional orthophoto. With GIJA MAPS you pay per job with no monthly image allowance. A 2,000 image orthophoto is €100 at list price €0.05 per image. Projects above 5,000 images and custom tasks are assessed beforehand.

Short answer

If you only need to process an orthophoto occasionally, for example from a construction site, you do not need a monthly subscription to get a usable result. You can pay per job for the images you actually process.

A subscription or an owned workstation with software can make sense if you fly and process every week, need full control over every step or run highly repetitive workflows. What fits best depends on frequency, requirements and how much operation you want to handle yourself.

When a subscription makes sense

Established photogrammetry tools often perform very well and have their place. For teams that process every week, must deliver the same output with high repeatability or need close control of parameters and integration with internal systems, a subscription or an owned workstation can be the most practical choice.

In that model you pay for ongoing access and operation, whether you use it a lot or a little in a given month. It fits best when demand is constant and predictable.

If your work is seasonal or varies a lot through the year, the fixed monthly cost is less directly tied to the specific job.

When pay per job makes sense

Pay per job is a pragmatic alternative for occasional and seasonal work, for example an orthophoto of a construction site from around 2,000 images. You only pay for the processing you order, with no monthly image allowance.

It often fits smaller teams, consultants and pilots who want a GIS-ready orthophoto without operating the full stack themselves. You upload the images, choose the processing and receive deliverables ready for QGIS and similar tools, without maintaining software and hardware yourself.

Established professional tools have their place, and pay per job is not the right answer for every specialist workflow. It is a lower-commitment alternative for routine work.

What it costs with us

Our current list price for an orthophoto is €0.05 per image. This is our list price, not a comparison with another provider and not a promise of identical processing time or total project economics.

The minimum purchase is €6. An orthophoto up to 100 images is free for every user, every time. This is for smaller datasets and testing.

Examples at list price for an orthophoto: 2,000 images costs €100, 1,000 images costs €50 and 500 images costs €25. You only pay for the images included in the job, and only when you start a job.

There is no monthly image allowance. That does not mean every dataset can be processed without assessment. The price per image is fixed, but processing time, capacity and deliverables can vary with the dataset.

What you get

A standard orthophoto job gives you a GIS-ready result you can use directly in the next step. Depending on the processing you choose you receive:

  • An orthomosaic as GeoTIFF with embedded coordinate system, ready for QGIS, ArcGIS and other GIS tools.
  • A DSM as GeoTIFF when you choose orthophoto plus elevation model, for terrain overview and indicative volume estimates.
  • A point cloud and 3D model with full 3D processing, delivered in standard formats such as LAS and OBJ or GLB.
  • A web viewer for the orthophoto directly in the browser, plus download of all files for further use.
  • Quality control and automatic processing. You follow the status in your dashboard and receive a notification when the job is complete.

Limitations

No monthly image allowance does not mean unlimited capacity. Datasets above 5,000 images and custom tasks are assessed beforehand based on images, overlap, output, processing time and capacity.

Specialist workflows that require a specifically validated method, close control of every step or a fixed internal pipeline may fit better in an established professional tool or an owned workstation. We recommend contacting us before you upload a large or specialist dataset so we can assess whether pay per job is the right model.

Frequently asked questions

What does 3D cost compared to 2D?

The price is flat per image, but 2D, 3D Object and 3D Area do not cost the same. 2D is €0.05 per image, 3D Object is €0.0625 per image and 3D Area is €0.075 per image. 2,000 images costs €100 as an orthophoto and €150 with 3D Area. The free tier up to 100 images applies to 2D only.

How does the €6 minimum work with small jobs?

You buy credits from €6. A 60 image 3D job uses €4.50, but you still buy the €6 minimum, and the remaining €1.50 stays on your account for the next job. 2D jobs up to 100 images are free and need no purchase.

When should I contact you before uploading?

Datasets above 5,000 images and custom tasks are assessed beforehand. Send image count, overlap, desired output and approximate processing time, and we come back with capacity and deliverable before you start the job. The assessment is free, and a dataset above 5,000 images cannot be processed without it.

How long do you keep my data?

Images, job data and results are kept 30 days on Basic and 365 days on Full Service from creation, or deleted earlier if you ask. Pay per job does not change the retention period. We delete data from active systems within 30 days after the storage period ends. Security logs are kept for 90 days, and payment and accounting records are kept as long as accounting law requires.

More reading

Our own articles and tools, plus a couple of external references on pumpkin counting and christmas tree measurement.

Ready to process your construction site orthophoto?

Create an account and upload your images, or contact us first if the project is large or requires a specific deliverable.

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Do you need a subscription to process an orthophoto from 2,000 images? | GIJA MAPS