You land the thermal card, pull the SD, and the next question is always the same: do I have to shove this whole array upload somewhere just to see the temperature map? Or can I build the layers on the machine that already sits in the truck?
If your shop needs solar thermal drone processing desktop — radiometric thermal flights processed into a seamless temperature map on the workstation you own, with solar findings review that stays on-hardware until you choose what to ship — that is the SkyView Desktop wedge. September 2026 waitlist (Sep/Oct framing OK). Not available today. Join at pilotledger.com/#pricing.
Thermal is a second product, not a color filter
RGB shows you the roof. Thermal shows you the heat story. Those are different deliverables. A solar O&M client does not want a pretty rainbow overlay you invented in Photoshop. They want a temperature map they can open next to the orthomosaic from the same flight — and they want you to be honest about what the software flagged versus what a boots-on-module inspection still has to confirm.
SkyView Desktop is local processing and viewing. For thermal flights, you select a dataset that includes DJI radiometric thermal photos (_T.JPG). Processing builds a seamless top-down temperature map — a thermal ortho in °C — alongside the orthomosaic from that same flight. You are not bolting a heat LUT onto RGB pixels and calling it a survey.
That is the unique root of this post: solar and thermal layers on your own hardware. Not contours. Not cut-fill. Not batch queues. The heat product, processed locally.
Why shops still upload the whole thermal job
The habit is muscle memory. Last platform treated the thermal pass as a cloud-seat privilege. Plant Wi-Fi is a joke. A site with security rules does not want raw radiometric frames sitting in someone else's bucket while you wait for a map you could have minted overnight on the box that already holds the card dump.
Same processing-first story as process drone maps on your own hardware: reconstruct locally, keep intermediates on the hardware you own, upload finished deliverables when the client handoff actually needs them. Client ortho viewing, when you do share, is tiled in the browser — see Client Ortho Tiles in the Browser, No 2GB Download and share client orthos.
Solar and thermal on the desktop: the SkyView path
SkyView is Pilot Ledger's desktop processing lane. Front door: process on your hardware. No per-map cloud processing fee. Raw imagery does not have to leave the machine for processing to start. Finished products can be uploaded and shared when you choose. Local processing is not the same thing as an unrestricted no-account license — account rules still apply — but the processing wedge is the point of the waitlist.
Ask Mav (1 Oct 2026) backs a practical thermal path:
- Load the radiometric set — dataset with DJI radiometric thermal photos (
_T.JPG). Native 640×512 and higher is in processing scope (for example H30T at 1280×1024). Native 320×240 is out of scope. Enlarging or Super Resolution does not change detector sampling and does not unlock sub-640 thermal sampling. If the sensor never captured it, software cannot invent it. - Build the thermal ortho locally — seamless top-down temperature map in °C, alongside the RGB orthomosaic from the same flight. View thermal with RGB context. Night thermal with RGB context and paired day/night comparisons are supported in the docs. RGB geometry helps alignment; it does not create finer radiometric samples.
- Review solar defects (preview) as a findings layer — prioritizes review of thermal anomalies. Layers panel groups them with a count. Map dots by severity (yellow / orange / red). Large solid dots = confirmed finding; smaller faded dots = seen in only one photo. This layer does not certify a fault or moisture. Field evidence is required. Saved finding temperatures are not the same thing as live camera-setting readings — do not mix those numbers in a client report.
- Export the rasters clients actually open — GeoTIFF for numeric elevation, temperature, and index rasters. Also KMZ (PNG tiles with ground-clamped overlays) and georeferenced PDF among the export options. Do not promise an implicit color stretch on KMZ/PDF for RGB the way you talk about numeric GeoTIFF temperature values.
- Use the map panel like a field desk — view 2D/3D layers including point clouds, toggle layer visibility, keep the working set local until the package is ready to ship.
The product claim this post leans on: local hardware, no per-map cloud processing fee, solar thermal drone processing desktop without treating a cloud seat as the only place a temperature map can be born.
Field pattern: what the client actually asks for
Solar array O&M. They want hot modules flagged for a ground crew — not a certificate that a software finding equals a failed diode. Walk the findings layer, mark what you confirmed in more than one frame, and say out loud that field verification still owns the call.
Roof or envelope with a thermal pass. Temperature map next to RGB context. Night flight with a day RGB pair when the job needs both. Do not oversell radiometric detail past what the detector sampled.
Industrial site that cannot leave the yard. Process on the workstation in the trailer. Export GeoTIFF/KMZ/PDF when the package is ready. Upload the shareable view when security says yes — not as the first step of processing.
Resolution honesty (the conversation you have before you bid)
If the camera is native 320×240, SkyView Desktop processing scope says no. Upscaling marketing language does not change the detector. Bid the sensor you will fly, or walk. That honesty is how you keep Friday reviews from turning into "why doesn't this look like the brochure."
SkyView waitlist: processing first, CRM second
SkyView sells processing: local hardware, no per-map cloud processing fee, waitlist September 2026. Not available today. Not "download the installer today." Not a bookmark for a SkyView subdomain. The only CTA here is pilotledger.com/#pricing.
Pilot Ledger quoting, jobs, and pay are a short second beat — why pilots stay after the thermal package ships. Quote the array flight, schedule the reflight, invoice when the GeoTIFF lands. They are not the H1. Lead with CRM on a solar/thermal processing post and you are selling the wrong door.
What this post is not claiming
- Accuracy percentages, survey-grade guarantees, or available-now downloads.
- That automated solar findings certify faults, moisture, or insurance claims.
- That Super Resolution or enlarging unlocks sub-640 thermal sampling.
- That saved finding temps equal live camera-setting readings.
- Implicit color-stretch promises on KMZ/PDF for RGB the way numeric GeoTIFF temperature rasters work.
- Available-now / private download links /
skyview.pilotledger.com. - Competitor metering numbers (none in this post).
- Flight Hub 2 talking points, or naming launch influencers.
- That local processing means an unrestricted no-account license.
Join the waitlist
If you want solar thermal drone processing desktop — thermal orthos and solar findings layers on your own hardware, RGB context when you need it, exports you keep local until you ship — join the SkyView waitlist for September 2026 at pilotledger.com/#pricing. Not available today. Processing first. Temperature maps that inherit an honest sensor.