Drone surveying saves valuable time for land surveyors, allowing safer working conditions, better data, and more accurate 3D models.

What is drone mapping and surveying?

A drone survey is the use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with RGB cameras, multispectral cameras, or LiDAR payloads to collect data. And then this data is transmitted to special equipment on the ground near the UAV operator. The end result of drone land surveying is a finished map of detail at a given scale, presented in digital format.

Surveying drones can fly at much lower altitudes than traditional techniques like manned aircraft or satellites, providing high-resolution, high-precision images faster and cheaper, and independent of weather conditions such as cloud cover.

What are the benefits of drone survey?

Even the most novice user knows that drones can be used for photography. The availability of unmanned aerial photography has led to its use in many sectors and produced incredible images. But is it good enough for your next mapping or surveying job? Let's take a look at some of the advantages of using drones for mapping and surveying.

• Save time and money

The economic advantage of drone land surveying comes primarily from its low operating costs compared to its main competitors, airplanes, and helicopters, which are up to 10 times more expensive than drone topography. Besides, recent studies show drone surveying is up to five times faster than traditional land-based methods.

• Provide high data accuracy

Drones have extremely high accuracy, with aerial mapping reaching centimeter-level accuracy and mapping accuracy generally reaching 1:1000. In addition, aerial mapping also has a wealth of 3D geographic information, which can capture the data of large-scale terrain.

• Map inaccessible places safer

Drone topographic survey allows us to obtain extensive and reliable data from inaccessible locations, unsafe steep slopes, or hazardous terrain. This means that surveyors can create a 3D computer model of the object under study and take a series of measurements in the office, without necessarily needing to be in the field or in a hazardous area to obtain data.