I'm seeing inconsistent accuracy across a 500-acre site using DJI M300 RTK with P1 camera. Accuracy depends strongly on flight geometry, GCP/checkpoint layout, and surface conditions, so consistency across large areas requires disciplined workflow. Getting 2-3cm in some zones but 8-12cm in others despite using same flight parameters. Wind was 15-18mph during flights - could this be causing the PPK drift issues? Using 12 GCPs distributed evenly but wondering if I need more for this size area. Processing in Pix4Dmapper Pro.

Wind definitely impacts accuracy, especially with longer flight lines. The reproducibility of SfM survey results under different operational conditions, namely wind speed, sun elevation, and cloud condition, is poorly understood. Does wind speed, during the survey, influence the reconstruction of canopy heights? Try flying in grid patterns rather than linear strips to minimize wind exposure time per image sequence.

For 500 acres you might need 18-24 GCPs minimum. For these kinds of projects, it is a challenge to guarantee a high relative and absolute accuracy, since it will also be impossible to use ground control points (GCPs) in such locations. The increased accuracy of the geotags also significantly increases the accuracy of the resulting model so that few, if any, ground control points need to be measured for the entire project. Consider adding checkpoints in the poor accuracy zones to validate your results.

Check your camera triggering intervals too - high winds can cause motion blur even with mechanical shutter. I've seen similar accuracy variations when image quality degrades in windy sections of the flight pattern.