Land departments now accept drone data for cadastre. More GIS users employ drone data in place of satellite imagery. Frequent quarry surveys are now possible, golf course modeling is common, and the list goes on.
As operators around the world are learning, a drone not only complements existing survey instruments, it also enables you to expand your company’s services into brand new fields.
Let’s look at a few examples:
Land surveying
Drones are ideal for tracking land change over time in great detail, showing updated topographical features, updated surfaces and single object layers. By overlaying a vector cadastre on a drone orthomosaic for example, you can identify missing objects or you can vectorize buildings/objects for upgrading a cadastre into 3D.
With topographic mapping, drone digital terrain models (DTMs) can be used in planning new developments such as building construction or noise barrier designs.
Drone data captured with the eBee X mapping drone can be easily imported into popular land surveying software such as AutoCAD, Trimble Business Center, Virtual Surveyor, etc.
Urban planning & Land management
Updated aerial imagery collected by drone is highly useful for planning new construction, monitoring site progress or analyzing how a topography will respond to weather events. A few other uses include:
Residential development: Import drone DTMs into CAD to build virtual models based on elevation data.
Land tenure: Use drone orthomosaics to define boundaries when granting land titles.
Flood simulation: Generate DTMs to simulate flooding and prepare response/design prevention measures.
Waste management: Use drone DTMs and orthomosaics to calculate landfill volumes.
Drone data easily imports into popular civil engineering and land management software such as ArcGIS, QGIS, GeoMedia, GlobalMapper, etc.
Construction & Earthworks
When it comes to surveying road construction sites, traditional methods can be slow and dangerous. An increasing number of construction companies are turning to UAVs, such as eBee fixed-wing drones, to cover larger areas with greater efficiency and safety. Some common benefits include:
Engineering design: Speed up project planning with accurate pre-construction surveys.
Volume measurement: Use 3D drone outputs to accurately measure cut & fill.
In-construction & as-build surveys: Easily monitor progress and document projects via quick routine drone flights.
Documentation & reporting: Use drone orthomosaic and images to improve stakeholder communication and ensure compliance.
The eBee has revolutionized the laborious weekly task of measuring our cut and fill. Before, we would use robotic total stations and GPS, which took two to three days. Now, we fly in half a day. The drone is the best money our survey department has ever spent.
Nick Kelly, Chief Land Surveyor, GRAHAM Construction, Ireland
Drone data easily imports into popular construction and earthworks software such as AutoCAD, Trimble Business Center, NRG Survey, etc.
Read how Woolpert Survey Group’s eBee X with active RTK allows for extended flight times and highly-accurate topographic base maps required on their latest design survey contract – the construction of a new frontage road adjacent to I-25 in Castle Rock, Colorado.
Mining, Quarries & Aggregates
Drone technology is successfully being put to work at open pit mines and quarries across the world. The integration of drones into site workflows deliver increased ROI and safety with less interruption to mine productivity. Some additional applications include:
Reconciliation & valuation: Measure stockpile volumes regularly within the drone’s point cloud.
Condition assessment: Assess condition/slopes of haul roads & loading pads.
Asset management: Optimize plant item locations in virtual drone model – checking sightlines, assessing disruption, etc.
Safe site surveys: conduct surveys from the site’s perimeter – limiting surveyor time-on-site and reducing risk/disruption to operations.
Drone data easily imports into popular mining software such as MineSight 3D, Maptek, Surpac, AutoCAD Civil 3D, etc.
Learn how Falcon Eye Drones (FEDS) recently used their eBee X fleet to map the largest limestone quarry in the world – all within a single day!
Where will surveying take you?
Whether your site is small and dynamic or vast and ever-changing, automated drone solutions boast quick data collection times, excellent positional accuracy and a safe operator experience. Adding a drone to your existing toolbox enables you to do more and expand your company’s services into brand new fields.
The eBee X series fixed-wing drones are designed as a complete aerial mapping system, capable of producing survey-grade data outputs that you and your clients can rely on.
