2026 DroneDB Roadmap

21 January 2026
3 min read
We are excited to share our 2026 ecosystem roadmap, highlighting new features and improvements designed to enhance your experience with DroneDB:

Multispectral Imagery Support

  • Multispectral Image Parsing: Full XMP metadata extraction for band names, sensitivity, and DJI/MicaSense tags.
  • Multispectral Orthophoto Rendering: Intelligent band selection for RGB display and vegetation indices (NDVI, NDRE).

New File Format Support

  • 3D Tiles: Cesium 3D Tiles integration for large-scale 3D visualization.
  • Flight Logs: Import and manage flight log files (Mavlink, DJI, Ardupilot).
  • Ground Control Points (GCPs): Support for GCP data files (ODM, Pix4D formats).
  • Collada/DAE: Support for Collada 3D model format.

Vector Tiles (MVT)

  • Migration to MVT: Replacing FlatGeobuf with Mapbox Vector Tiles for better scalability with large vector datasets.

Enterprise Features

  • LDAP Authentication: Native LDAP/Active Directory integration for enterprise deployments.
  • WMS/WFS Support: OGC-compliant Web Map Service and Web Feature Service endpoints.
  • Google/GitHub SSO: Native OAuth login with Google and GitHub.
  • Password-Protected Sharing: Share datasets with password protection.

User Interface Enhancements

  • PDF Viewer: View PDF documents directly within the application.
  • Enhanced Image Viewer: Full-screen lightbox/gallery mode for images.
  • Map Layers Management: Dedicated UI for layer toggling, reordering, and opacity control.
  • Sort/Filter Organizations: Alphabetical, date, and dataset count sorting.
  • Complete EXIF/XMP Metadata: Display full camera metadata in properties panel.
  • Direction Indicators: Show drone direction/velocity with cone markers on map.
  • Cylindrical Panorama Support: Proper visualization of cylindrical panoramic projections.

Comparison & Timeline

  • File Comparison: Visual comparison tools for orthophotos, point clouds, and 3D models.
  • Timeline with Comparison: Track and compare changes over time.

AI Integration

  • Automated Object Detection: AI-powered object detection and annotation for images, orthophotos, point clouds, and 3D models.
  • Semantic Search: Context-driven AI search across your datasets.
  • Change Detection: Automated temporal analysis to identify changes over time.

Platform & Integrations

  • MacOS Release: Native macOS support for DroneDB CLI and libraries.
  • WebODM Integration: Improved plugin for seamless data exchange with WebODM.
  • FTP/SFTP Support: Direct file transfers via FTP/SFTP protocols.
  • Plugin Framework: Extend functionality with third-party plugins.

3D Viewer Improvements

  • Potree Measurement Units: Configurable measurement units in 3D point cloud viewer.
  • Vertical Exaggeration: Slider to enhance terrain relief visualization.
  • Nexus Build Optimization: WebP texture compression for faster 3D model loading.

 

Explore our plans here: https://dronedb.app/plans/.

 

Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. Your support makes the DroneDB community what it is, and we’re excited to keep building together!

The DroneDB Team