Launch update — September 29, 2026: SkyView Desktop launches October 12, 2026. Approximately 50 pilots will field-test it in a private beta before launch. Pre-launch Desktop access requires beta approval and an assigned SkyView license. Ask about beta access or view SkyView plans.
Commercial mapping jobs do not end when the aircraft lands. They end when the client can open this week's orthomosaic without calling you for a password, a drive link, or a second copy of a file that never finished downloading.
That handoff is where SkyView client share links sit. Process on your desktop. Keep the raw card local until you choose what leaves the machine. Then send a unique link so the superintendent can view the ortho in a browser — tiled for viewing — instead of fighting a multi-gigabyte GeoTIFF in email.
SkyView is Pilot Ledger's desktop processing lane: local photogrammetry on your hardware, no per-map cloud processing fee, launching October 12, 2026, after private beta field testing. View launch plans at pilotledger.com/#pricing.
The download is not the deliverable
A finished orthomosaic is often a large GeoTIFF. That is fine for a surveyor who asked for the file. It is a poor default for a superintendent in a truck who only needs to see the site.
What usually happens instead:
- The GeoTIFF fails as an email attachment.
- You zip it, rename it FINAL, then FINAL_v2.
- You drop it on a shared drive and hope the right person opens the right folder.
- A week later the owner is looking at last month's map because that was the file that actually opened.
The job you sold was a current site view. The file you shipped became IT work. SkyView client share links are meant to reverse that: the client gets a link, the viewer loads the ortho in tiles, and nobody has to babysit a multi-gigabyte download just to answer "is this the current map?"
This is a different root from last week's ortho tiles post. That piece is about how the browser viewer behaves. This one is about the waitlist product story: share links as the client handoff after local processing.
Process locally first. Share second.
SkyView's front door is processing, not a portal.
You run the job on the machine you already own. Raw imagery does not have to leave the laptop for processing to start. When a layer is ready — usually the orthomosaic on a weekly construction flight — you upload the finished deliverable you meant to hand over, not the whole project and not the raw card.
That order matters on plants, quarries, and jobs the client has not announced publicly. Local processing is the privacy and cost story: no per-map cloud processing fee for the heavy work. The share link is the delivery story. Do not reverse them in the sales pitch.
Pilot Ledger quoting, jobs, and payment sit behind that. Second beat only. The H1 here is still the share handoff, not CRM.
What a client share link is (and is not)
From product facts we have already locked with Ask Mav and Marketing:
- The client opens a unique share link in a normal browser.
- They do not need a Pilot Ledger login or a new account to view the shared layer.
- Share links are built for finished layers you choose to send — not a second cloud processor the client has to learn.
- Links expire after 90 days from when you send them.
- Links are not password-protected, so treat the recipient list like you would any job email: send to the people on the job, not a wide blast on a sensitive site.
- The client can still download the exact file you uploaded when their surveyor or CAD tech needs the GeoTIFF. The viewer is the easy look; the file remains available when the scope requires it.
- Orthos in the web viewer are tiled for viewing. The point is browser access without forcing a giant whole-file download as the only way to see the map. Do not invent a hard 2 GB "viewer cap" story for marketing — the locked product line is tiled viewing with no hard 2 GB viewing cap on the web ortho experience.
Gaussian splats stay on the desktop in SkyView. Do not promise a web splat orbit as the share. If the deliverable is a splat walkthrough, plan that handoff around desktop viewing. Orthos and finished map layers are what the browser share is for.
For the no-login angle in isolation, see the earlier post Share an Orthomosaic With a Link, No Client Login. This guide keeps the focus on SkyView client share links as the anti-download handoff after local processing.
Who this is for on a real job
Weekly construction progress. The GC wants this week's ortho next to last week's. A link that opens on a phone beats a 2 GB attachment that never finishes on cellular.
Quarry and stockpile updates. The plant manager needs to see the pad, not install software. Send the layer. Keep the processing project on your machine.
Owner and lender reviews. People who will never open QGIS still need to confirm the site. A browser link is the deliverable they will actually use.
Jobs where the raw imagery should stay put. Process locally. Share only the finished ortho (or other layer) you intend to expose. That is the commercial posture SkyView is built around.
How to talk about it on a quote
Keep the language plain:
- Processing runs on your desktop — no per-map cloud processing fee for the heavy work.
- When the ortho is ready, the client gets a unique share link.
- They open it in a browser. No account required for viewing.
- If their surveyor needs the GeoTIFF, they can download the file you uploaded.
- The link is good for 90 days. Send it to the people on the job.
That is enough for a pre-launch conversation. Do not overbuild a "client platform" story the product is not selling.
Bottom line
SkyView client share links are the clean end of a local processing job: the client sees the ortho in the browser instead of wrestling a multi-gigabyte download, and you keep raw imagery on your machine until you choose what to send.
SkyView Desktop launches October 12, 2026. View plans at https://pilotledger.com/#pricing. For how the tiled browser viewer fits the same story, keep Client Ortho Tiles in the Browser, No 2GB Download next to this post.