<liclass="toctree-l4"><aclass="reference internal"href="../tutorials/#prep-data-and-project">Prep data and project</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l4"><aclass="reference internal"href="../tutorials/#resize-droplet-pull-pin-run-away">Resize droplet, pull pin, run away</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l4"><aclass="reference internal"href="../tutorials/#after-it-finishes-assuming-you-survive-that-long">After it finishes (assuming you survive that long)</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l3"><aclass="reference internal"href="../large/#getting-started-with-distributed-split-merge">Getting Started with Distributed Split-Merge</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l3"><aclass="reference internal"href="../large/#understanding-the-cluster">Understanding the Cluster</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l3"><aclass="reference internal"href="../large/#accessing-the-logs">Accessing the Logs</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l3"><aclass="reference internal"href="../faq/#can-i-process-two-or-more-orthophoto-geotiffs-to-stitch-them-together">Can I process two or more orthophoto GeoTIFFs to stitch them together?</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l3"><aclass="reference internal"href="../faq/#i-want-to-build-a-commercial-application-that-includes-odm-do-i-need-a-commercial-license">I want to build a commercial application that includes ODM. Do I need a commercial license?</a></li>
<liclass="toctree-l3"><aclass="reference internal"href="../faq/#are-there-other-licensing-options-aside-from-the-agplv3">Are there other licensing options aside from the AGPLv3?</a></li>
<h1>Installation and Getting Started<aclass="headerlink"href="#installation-and-getting-started"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>This section is excerpted and modified with permission from <aclass="reference external"href="https://odmbook.com">OpenDroneMap: The Missing Guide</a>, by Piero Toffanin.</p>
<p>Until recently OpenDroneMap was the term used to refer to a single command line application (what is now known as the ODM project). With the recent development of a web interface, an API and other tools, OpenDroneMap has become an ecosystem of various applications to process, analyze and display aerial data. This ecosystem is made of several components:</p>
<li><p><strong>ODM</strong> is the processing engine, which can be used from the command line. It takes images as input and produces a variety of outputs, including point clouds, 3D models and orthophotos</p></li>
<li><p><strong>NodeODM</strong> is a light-weight API built on top of ODM. It allows users and applications to access the functions of ODM over a computer network</p></li>
<li><p><strong>WebODM</strong> is a friendly user interface that includes a map viewer, a 3D viewer, user logins, a plugin system and many other features that are expected of modern drone mapping platforms</p></li>
<li><p><strong>PyODM</strong> is a Python SDK for creating tasks via the NodeODM API. We cover it in more detail in the “Automated Processing With Python” chapter</p></li>
<li><p><strong>ClusterODM</strong> is a load balancer for connecting together multiple NodeODM instances</p></li>
</ul>
<p>ODM, NodeODM and WebODM are available on all major platforms (Windows, macOS and Linux) via a program called docker, which is required to run the software. Docker offers a way to run “containers”. Containers are packaged copies of an entire system, its software and its dependencies. These containers run within a virtual environment. On Linux this virtual environment is available from the operating system and is very efficient. On macOS and Windows the containers run within a VM, so there’s a bit of a overhead. but it’s still very suitable for running the software. Once installed users do not have to worry much about docker, as it operates (almost) transparently.</p>
<p>Without docker it would not be possible to run ODM on Windows or macOS. On these platforms ODM cannot run natively. Future development efforts are being focused on leveraging the new Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and the possibility to make a native port of all dependencies to macOS, which is going to make the installation much easier.</p>
<p>On Ubuntu Linux 18.04 it’s feasible to run all OpenDroneMap software natively. However, because there’s very little performance penalty for running docker on Linux and docker is straightforward to setup on this platform, we don’t recommend it. On Linux the advantages of containerization far outweigh a tiny performance penalty. With docker users also get easy one-step updates of the software, so that’s nice.</p>
<h2>Hardware Recommendations<aclass="headerlink"href="#hardware-recommendations"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The bare minimum requirements for running the software
are:</p>
<ulclass="simple">
<li><p>64bit CPU manufactured on or after 2010</p></li>
<li><p>20 GB of disk space</p></li>
<li><p>4 GB RAM</p></li>
</ul>
<p>No more than 100-200 images can be processed with the above specifications (the software will run out of memory). Recommended requirements are:</p>
<ulclass="simple">
<li><p>Latest Generation CPU</p></li>
<li><p>100 GB of disk space</p></li>
<li><p>16 GB RAM</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The above will allow for a few hundred images to be processed without too many issues. A CPU with more cores will allow for faster processing, while a graphics card (GPU) currently has no impact on performance. For processing more images, add more disk space and RAM linearly to the number of images you need to process.</p>
<spanid="docker-installation"></span><h2>Installation<aclass="headerlink"href="#installation"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>We recommend people use <aclass="reference external"href="https://www.docker.com">docker</a> for running ODM, whether you are on Windows, macOS or Linux.</p>
<h4>Step 1. Check Virtualization Support<aclass="headerlink"href="#step-1-check-virtualization-support"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Docker requires a feature from your CPU called virtualization, which allows it to run virtual machines (VMs). Make sure you have it enabled! Sometimes this is disabled. To check, on Windows 8 or higher you can open the <strong>Task Manager</strong> (press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) and switch to the <strong>Performance</strong> tab.</p>
<p>On Windows 7 to see if you have virtualization enabled you can use the <aclass="reference external"href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=592">Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool</a> instead.</p>
<p>If virtualization is disabled, you’ll need to enable it. The procedure unfortunately is a bit different for each computer model, so the best way to do this is to look up on a search engine “how to enable vtx for <type your computer model here>”. Often times it’s a matter of restarting the computer, immediately pressing F2 or F12 during startup, navigating the boot menu and changing the settings to enable virtualization (often called “VT-X”).</p>
<p>If you are on Windows 10 Professional or a newer version, you should install instead:</p>
<ulclass="simple">
<li><p>Docker for Windows: <aclass="reference external"href="https://download.docker.com/win/stable/Docker%20for%20Windows%20Installer.exe">https://download.docker.com/win/stable/Docker%20for%20Windows%20Installer.exe</a></p></li>
</ul>
<p>Please do <strong>NOT</strong> install both docker programs. They are different and will create a mess if they are both installed.</p>
<p>After installing docker, launch it from the Desktop icon that is created from the installation (<strong>Docker Quickstart</strong> in the case of Docker Toolbox, <strong>Docker for Windows</strong> for Docker for Windows). This is important, do not skip this step. If there are errors, follow the prompts on screen to fix them.</p>
<h4>Step 3. Check Memory and CPU Allocation<aclass="headerlink"href="#step-3-check-memory-and-cpu-allocation"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Docker on Windows works by running a VM in the background (think of a VM as a “computer emulator”). This VM has a certain amount of memory allocated and WebODM can only use as much memory as it’s allocated.</p>
<p>If you installed Docker Toolbox (see below if you installed Docker for Windows instead):</p>
<olclass="arabic simple">
<li><p>Open the <strong>VirtualBox Manager</strong> application</p></li>
<li><p>Right click the <strong>default</strong> VM and press <strong>Close (ACPI Shutdown)</strong> to stop the machine</p></li>
<li><p>Right click the <strong>default</strong> VM and press <strong>Settings…</strong></p></li>
<li><p>Move the <strong>Base Memory</strong> slider from the <strong>System</strong> panel and allocate 60-70% of all available memory, optionally adding 50% of the available processors from the <strong>Processor</strong> tab also</p></li>
<p>Then press <strong>OK</strong>, right click the <strong>default</strong> VM and press <strong>Start</strong>.</p>
<p>If you installed Docker for Windows instead:</p>
<olclass="arabic simple">
<li><p>Look in the system tray and right click the “white whale” icon.</p></li>
<li><p>From the menu, press <strong>Settings…</strong></p></li>
<li><p>From the panel, click <strong>Advanced</strong> and use the sliders to allocate 60-70% of available memory and use half of all available CPUs.</p></li>
<p><em>Git Gui after successful download (clone)</em></p>
<p>Go to the <strong>Repository</strong> menu, then click <strong>Create Desktop Icon</strong>. This will allow you to come back to this application easily in the future.</p>
<p>Several components will download to your machine at this point, including WebODM, NodeODM and ODM. After the download you should be greeted by the following screen:</p>
<p><em>Console output after starting WebODM for the first time</em></p>
<ulclass="simple">
<li><p>If you are using Docker for Windows, open a web browser to <aclass="reference external"href="http://localhost:8000">http://localhost:8000</a></p></li>
<li><p>If you are using Docker Toolbox, find the IP address to connect to by typing:</p></li>
</ul>
<divclass="highlight-bash notranslate"><divclass="highlight"><pre><span></span>$ docker-machine ip
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You should get a result like the following:</p>
<p>Then connect to <aclass="reference external"href="http://192.168.1.100:8000">http://192.168.1.100:8000</a> (replacing the IP address with the proper one).</p>
<h3>macOS<aclass="headerlink"href="#macos"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Most modern (post 2010) Mac computers running macOS Sierra 10.12 or higher can run OpenDroneMap using docker, as long as hardware virtualization is supported (see below).</p>
<p>Which should return something similar to the following:</p>
<divclass="highlight-bash notranslate"><divclass="highlight"><pre><span></span>git version <spanclass="m">2</span>.20.1 <spanclass="o">(</span>Apple Git-117<spanclass="o">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If you get a “bash: git: command not found”, try to restart your <strong>Terminal</strong> app and double-check for any errors during the install process.</p>
<h4>Step 3. Check Memory and CPU Allocation<aclass="headerlink"href="#id3"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>Docker on macOS works by running a VM in the background (think of it as a “computer emulator”). This VM has a certain amount of memory allocated and WebODM can only use as much memory as it’s allocated.</p>
<olclass="arabic simple">
<li><p>Right click the whale icon from the task bar and click <strong>Preferences</strong>…</p></li>
<li><p>Select the <strong>Advanced</strong> tab</p></li>
<li><p>Adjust the CPUs slider to use half of all available CPUs and the memory to use 60-70% of all available memory</p></li>
<li><p>Press <strong>Apply & Restart</strong></p></li>
<h3>Linux<aclass="headerlink"href="#linux"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>OpenDroneMap can run on any Linux distribution that supports docker. According to <aclass="reference external"href="https://docs.docker.com/install/">docker’s documentation website</a> the officially supported distributions are CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora, with static binaries available for others. If you have to pick a distribution solely for running OpenDroneMap, Ubuntu is the recommended way to go.</p>
<h4>Step 1. Install Requirements<aclass="headerlink"href="#step-1-install-requirements"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>There are four programs that need to be installed:</p>
<olclass="arabic simple">
<li><p>Docker</p></li>
<li><p>Git</p></li>
<li><p>Python (2 or 3)</p></li>
<li><p>Pip</p></li>
</ol>
<p>We cannot possibly cover the installation process for every Linux distribution out there, so we’ll limit the instructions to those that are distributions officially supported by docker. In all cases it’s just a matter of opening a terminal prompt and typing a few commands.</p>
<h4>Step 2. Check Additional Requirements<aclass="headerlink"href="#step-2-check-additional-requirements"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
<p>In addition to the three programs above, the dockercompose script is also needed. Sometimes it’s already installed with docker, but sometimes it isn’t. To verify if it’s installed try to type:</p>
<h2>Basic Commands and Troubleshooting<aclass="headerlink"href="#basic-commands-and-troubleshooting"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The cool thing about using docker is that 99% of the tasks you’ll ever need to perform while using WebODM can be done via the ./webodm.sh script. You have already encountered one of them:</p>
<p>which takes care of starting WebODM and setting up a default processing node (node-odm-1). If you want to stop WebODM, you can already guess what the command is:</p>
<p>There are several other commands you can use, along with different flags. Flags are parameters passed to the ./webodm.sh command and are typically prefixed with “–”. The <strong>port</strong> flag for example instructs WebODM to use a different network port:</p>
<p><aclass="reference external"href="https://community.opendronemap.org">The community forum</a> is a great place to ask for help if you get stuck during any of the installation steps and for general questions on using the ./webodm.sh script.</p>
<h2>Hello, WebODM!<aclass="headerlink"href="#hello-webodm"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>After running ./webodm.sh start and opening WebODM in the browser, you will be greeted with a welcome message and will be asked to create the first user. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the web interface and explore its various menus.</p>
<p>Notice that under the <strong>Processing Nodes</strong> menu there’s a “node-odm-1” node already configured for you to use. This is a NodeODM node and has been created automatically by WebODM. This node is running on the same machine as WebODM.</p>
<p>If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! Now it’s time to start processing some data.</p>
<h3>Running on more than one machine<aclass="headerlink"href="#running-on-more-than-one-machine"title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p><strong>Optionally:</strong> If you have another computer, you can repeat the installation process (install docker, git, python, etc.) and launch a new NodeODM node by typing from a Terminal/Git Bash window:</p>
<p>The above command asks docker to launch a new container using the opendronemap/nodeodm image from Docker Hub (the latest version of NodeODM), using port 3000, setting a maximum number of concurrent tasks to 1 and to protect the node from unauthorized access using the password “secret”.</p>
<p>From WebODM you can then press the <strong>Add New</strong> button under <strong>Processing Nodes</strong>. For the <strong>hostname/IP</strong> field type the IP of the second computer. For the <strong>port</strong> field type “3000”. For the <strong>token</strong> field type “secret”. You can also add an optional <strong>label</strong> for your node, such as “second computer”. Then press <strong>Save</strong>.</p>
<p>If everything went well, you should now have two processing nodes! You will be able to process multiple tasks in parallel using two different machines.</p>
<p><aclass="reference external"href="https://github.com/opendronemap/docs#how-to-make-your-first-contribution">Learn to edit</a> and help improve <aclass="reference external"href="https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/docs/blob/publish/source/installation.rst">this page</a>!</p>
