DroneDB

DroneDB is a free, open-source platform for modern geospatial data management. Store, visualize and share your geospatial data in the cloud. Orthophotos, point clouds, 3D models, geotagged files: all in one place.

See it in action: hub.dronedb.app/r/odm/waterbury

Key Features

• Smart Indexing - Automatic metadata extraction from images (EXIF), raster data (GDAL), point clouds (PDAL), and vector files
• Interactive Visualization - Web-based viewers for orthophotos, 3D point clouds, textured models, and 360° panoramas
• Geospatial Analysis - Flight path visualization, EXIF metadata extraction, dataset partitioning, and STAC catalog support
• Multiple Sharing Options - Direct links, embed codes, TMS tiles, Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs (COG), and Entwine Point Tiles (EPT)
• Cloud Sync - Push and pull datasets to/from DroneDB Hub for collaboration
• Format Support - Orthophotos (GeoTIFF, COG), point clouds (LAZ/LAS, PLY), 3D models (OBJ, glTF/GLB), vector files (GeoJSON, SHP, KML, DWG, GPKG), and 360° panoramas
• Cross-Platform - Works on Windows and Linux

💬 Community

Join our Discord server to get help, share feedback, discuss features, and connect with other DroneDB users:

Join the DroneDB Discord

Quick Start

Installation

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

# Download and install from the latest release
sudo apt install ./ddb_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb

Windows

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases and run the installer.

Basic Usage

# Initialize a new DroneDB repository
ddb init

# Add files to the repository
ddb add *.jpg orthophoto.tif

# List indexed files with metadata
ddb list

# Get detailed information about files
ddb info image.jpg

# Generate thumbnails
ddb thumbs *.jpg

# Search for files
ddb search --type image

# Build COG (Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF) from raster
ddb cog input.tif output.tif

# Share your dataset to DroneDB Hub
ddb share . --tag myproject/dataset

Available Commands

Run ddb <command> --help for detailed usage of each command.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at docs.dronedb.app

Architecture

DroneDB consists of:

• Core Library - C++ library for file processing, metadata extraction, and SQLite/SpatiaLite database operations
• CLI Tool (ddb) - Command-line interface for all operations

Building from Source

DroneDB uses vcpkg for dependency management and CMake for building.

Prerequisites

• C++17 compiler (GCC 9+, Clang 9+, MSVC 2019+)
• CMake 3.21+
• Python 3.x
• Git
• Visual Studio 2019+ (Windows only, with C++ desktop development workload)

Quick Build

Windows (PowerShell):

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git; cd vcpkg; .\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
$env:VCPKG_ROOT = $(Get-Location).Path
cd ..; git clone https://github.com/DroneDB/DroneDB.git; cd DroneDB
.\full-build-win.ps1

Linux:

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git && cd vcpkg && ./bootstrap-vcpkg.sh
export VCPKG_ROOT=$(pwd)
cd .. && git clone https://github.com/DroneDB/DroneDB.git && cd DroneDB
./full-build-linux.sh

Windows Build Script

DroneDB provides a robust PowerShell build script that automatically detects Visual Studio, configures CMake, and builds using Ninja.

Basic Usage

# Debug build (default)
.\full-build-win.ps1

# Release build
.\full-build-win.ps1 -BuildType Release

# Clean build
.\full-build-win.ps1 -Clean

# Custom configuration
.\full-build-win.ps1 -BuildType Release -Clean -Jobs 8

Script Parameters

Build Output

After successful build, find executables in the build/ directory:

• ddbcmd.exe - Command-line tool
• ddb.dll - Core library
• ddbtest.exe - Test suite

Troubleshooting

Visual Studio Not Found

• The script automatically searches for VS 2019-2025 using vswhere.exe
• Install Visual Studio with "Desktop development with C++" workload
• Or set VSINSTALLDIR environment variable

CMake Not Found

• Install from cmake.org/download
• Or via Visual Studio Installer (Individual Components → CMake)

Build Failures

• Try a clean build: .\full-build-win.ps1 -Clean
• Manually bootstrap vcpkg: cd vcpkg; .\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
• Check prerequisites are installed and in PATH

Docker Build

./build-docker.sh
docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/data ddb/app:latest

Manual Build Steps

# Linux/macOS
export VCPKG_ROOT=/path/to/vcpkg

# Windows PowerShell
$env:VCPKG_ROOT = "C:\path\to\vcpkg"

git clone https://github.com/DroneDB/DroneDB.git
cd DroneDB
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Configure
cmake -B build -S . -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake"

# Build
cmake --build build --config Release -j$(nproc)  # Linux
cmake --build build --config Release -- /maxcpucount:14  # Windows

mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="..\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake"
cmake --build . -- -j16

# Linux
cd build && ./ddbtest --gtest_shuffle

# Windows
cd build && .\ddbtest.exe --gtest_shuffle

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to submit pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0).

Made with ❤️ by Digipa