Saw this drone on Hackaday

I've messed with the Auto Grid function in Mission Planner and APMPlanner. My parents live in a rural area in the southern US. They do some farming and ranching and I thought some aerial imaging might be a useful surveying tool for accessing crops and checking on cattle, perhaps even locating cattle that may have strayed from the herd to outlying areas of the farm in the wintertime.

I helped out with a lost cattle search the last time I visited during the holidays. Trudging across 186 hilly acres, hiking through the snow searching for cows... not on my "10 most enjoyable activities" list. I suspected max altitude grid imaging could be accomplished in a fraction of the time, and likely identify the location of the missing cattle. Or at a minimum, identify areas where cows AREN'T.

I also though perhaps a lower altitude pre-programmed flight to survey fencing could be useful. Using video, rather than still imaging, then playing back the video at 2x or even 5x might still provide useful info. In warmer seasons it's just as easy to hop in the truck and drive the lines. But in 12 to 14 inches of snow, or worse, melting snow, the lines become impassable.

To date I've only been learning how the various Auto Grid features work, but when I visit them in August I hope to prove the concept.