WebODM Free Software as a Tool for Digital Aerial Photogrammetric Processing: Employability in Scientific Productions

With the advancement of technologies applied to Global Navigation Satellite Systems and the popularization of Remotely Piloted Aircraft, aerial photogrammetry has experienced significant advances, especially in geographic and environmental research. Drones equipped with high-resolution sensors have revolutionized data collection, essential for topographic mapping and vegetation analysis. However, many technologies for digital processing and spatial analysis of original images are proprietary and expensive, making access difficult for institutions and researchers, especially in Brazil. This scenario makes free and open-source software, such as WebODM, an important alternative to democratize access to high-quality tools. In view of this, this article analyzes the applicability of WebODM in academic works, through bibliometric analysis in scientific repositories. The search included variations in the software nomenclature and the data were analyzed quantitatively. The Elsevier and Scopus databases led with 59 and 39 publications, respectively, while the national Scielo Brasil database had only one article hosted. There has been a gradual increase in the number of publications involving WebODM since 2016, with a peak of 38 papers in 2023. In comparison, the term "Agisoft Metashape", a proprietary solution for digital aerial photogrammetric processing, returned 1,595 publications in the same search portals. As an initial contribution to the understanding of the state of the art, it was observed that the thematic axes involving remote sensing, photogrammetry, precision agriculture and agricultural management were those that concentrated the largest number of scientific productions on WebODM in the investigated period, exceeding 30 papers. It is concluded that WebODM has stood out as a relevant tool in scientific research, especially for the processing of images derived from drones. Future studies should qualitatively evaluate the results obtained with the use of WebODM in comparison with proprietary software.