Drone Coverage Calculator

Enter the altitude and the horizontal and vertical fields of view to get the ground width, height and coverage area.

How to use

  1. Enter your values in the fields above.
  2. Press Calculate to see your result instantly.
  3. Use the Share button to copy a link to your result.

About this calculator

A drone camera's ground footprint depends on flight altitude and the camera's angular field of view (FOV): at a given height, a wider FOV or a higher altitude both capture more ground per photo. The footprint dimensions follow ground width = 2 × altitude × tan(HFOV/2) and the equivalent formula for ground height using the vertical FOV, with coverage area as their product.

Survey and mapping pilots use this to plan flight altitude for a required ground sample distance and to calculate the flight-line spacing needed for a target image overlap — critical for stitching aerial photos into an accurate orthomosaic.

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