Extended and scaled a global drone data marketplace for a Swedish geospatial platform

GLOBHE is a Swedish drone data marketplace — the world's largest platform connecting organisations with professional drone operators across 150 countries. Through their Crowddroning® model, clients commission drone data collection for digital twins, infrastructure inspection, environmental monitoring, and disaster response — all through a single platform.

Classic Informatics partnered with GLOBHE as their technology partner to extend and scale the platform — adding new features, automating data ordering workflows, and integrating the geospatial processing tools their enterprise clients needed.

• The platform lacked a payment system — no subscription model or one-time data purchase capability for clients
• Organisations monitoring recurring sites like wind turbines and solar fields had no way to automate repeat orders
• Large geospatial datasets generated by drone missions had no reliable upload and download infrastructure
• ArcGIS integration was absent — clients needed processed GeoTIFF outputs but the platform had no geospatial processing pipeline
• Manual processes for connecting organisations with drone operators created operational delays and limited scalability

1. Assessed the full platform before building anything new

We evaluated GLOBHE's existing architecture end to end before proposing changes — understanding what was working, what was creating friction, and where new features needed to integrate without disrupting the live platform.

2. Prioritised automation over manual coordination

The core operational problem was manual intervention in connecting clients with drone operators. We designed new features around removing that friction — automating ordering, data delivery, and status updates so clients could access drone data without waiting on a human process.

3. Built for enterprise-grade data handling

GLOBHE's clients operate at scale — ordering drone data across multiple sites simultaneously. We engineered large dataset upload and download infrastructure capable of handling the volume and file sizes that geospatial workflows require.

4. Delivered continuously with zero downtime

All new features were implemented in real-time on the live platform with 99.999% uptime maintained throughout — no feature releases required taking the platform offline.

Payments & Ordering

• Subscription-based payment system for clients with recurring drone data needs
• One-time data purchase flow for on-demand site captures
• Recurring order engine — clients can schedule automated repeat orders weekly, monthly, or annually
• Purpose-built for asset monitoring use cases — wind turbines, solar fields, infrastructure inspection

Data Infrastructure

• Large dataset upload and download infrastructure for high-volume geospatial file handling
• Reliable file transfer pipelines for drone imagery, point clouds, and orthomosaic data
• Order tracking and status updates across all active missions

Geospatial Integration

• ArcGIS third-party API integration pulling mission data from the GLOBHE platform
• Automated GeoTIFF generation — high-resolution image maps of captured areas processed from raw drone data
• Processed geospatial outputs delivered directly to client accounts without manual handling

Platform Features

• API-based data ordering automation for enterprise clients
• Drone operator matching, logistics, and status management
• React and Node.js feature development across the full platform

GLOBHE's platform grew from a manually coordinated drone marketplace to a fully automated, enterprise-ready data platform — with payment infrastructure, recurring order capability, large dataset handling, and geospatial processing all live at scale across 150 countries.

Business Impact

• Subscription and one-time payment models enabled commercial monetisation at platform scale
• Recurring order engine eliminated manual reordering for asset monitoring clients
• ArcGIS integration delivered processed GeoTIFF outputs automatically — no manual geospatial processing required
• Platform now supports 11,000+ drone operators across 150 countries with 99.999% uptime
• Enterprise clients can automate full drone data workflows via API without human intervention