SURVEY & CONSTRUCTION

As an integral part of the modern surveying and construction industry, getting the right drone solution for the job has never been more important. Drones are key in the entire process, from the initial site survey all the way through to documenting the final outcome. With the right surveying and construction drone package, it has never been simpler to get the data you need for pre-construction planning and design and to enable you to track and communicate progress with stakeholders, evaluate site conditions, and export data to software integrations. Here at Aerial Media Pros, our experts are ready to help you select the right package to suit your needs.

Drones have changed the game for survey and construction practices. From the very first step, the pre-construction site survey, planning, and design, drones have a key role to play. Surveying drone packages make it easy to plan and initiate flights to gather data used to generate sitemaps. With RTK capable drones, you can gather centimeter accurate data with fewer GCPs, ensuring that you have precise, dependable data to inform the decision-making process, long before breaking ground. Once construction is underway, you have the ability to monitor progress, allowing you to detect and correct plan defects and deviations as they come up, and compare actual site conditions with pre-construction designs. Drones capture data to create 3D models that show an orbital view of the entire construction site, and software programs such as the DroneDeploy app allow for repeated mapping missions to make tracking the progress of the construction site easy and intuitive. This type of data easily at your fingertips saves time and resources and helps to prevent costly miscalculations. With data generated by drone imagery, it’s easy to keep all stakeholders up to speed on project developments. Progress photos can be used to evaluate project health, and share a visual timeline of the work happening on site. Live mapping features can enable you to share real-time progress when important and timely decisions need to be made by someone off-site. Drones are also a huge safety tool, with the ability to improve conditions and outcomes for workers on site. With routine inspections to monitor the site for safety hazards, dangerous situations can be addressed before they become an issue. Site inspections themselves have also become safer and more quickly and easily performed by drone, eliminating the need for personnel to step foot in dangerous areas, while still allowing them to access all areas of the site to record necessary visual data.

A good entry level package for work in the construction and survey industry is the DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise or the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual, the main difference being that the dual also houses a thermal sensor. This drone series boasts safe and easy flight modes with enhanced safety features, powerful zoom capabilities and GPS time stamping to ensure time and location accurate data. Another great option for construction survey work is the Phantom 4 RTK drone. This drone comes with an easy to use, purpose-built flight planning app to get you off the ground, collecting the data you need in no time. The RTK module is built right into the Phantom 4 RTK and provides real-time, centimeter-level positioning ensuring improved accuracy on image metadata, while requiring fewer ground control points. Another strong option for construction and survey work is the Matrice 210 V2 RTK with a Real Time Kinematics (RTK) positioning system that can deliver centimeter-level precision for applications that require the maximum possible precision. Equipped with the XT2, you have the ability to gather high-resolution thermal data. Include with this the Zenmuse X5S with a dynamic range of 12.8 stops and an improved signal to noise ratio, and compatibility with up to 8 standard M4/3 lenses, you have an unparalleled ability to collect high-quality and accurate images needed to produce advanced 3D modeling and analytics. When extended continuous flight time is a priority for the job, a fixed-wing drone such as the senseFly eBee X might be the best fit. The eBee X is compatible with a range of sensors, including the senseFly S.O.D.A., the S.O.D.A. 3D, and the Aeria X. The S.O.D.A. was the first camera designed for professional drone photogrammetry and has quickly become the industry standard. It captures amazingly sharp aerial images, across most light conditions. These images are then used to produce detailed, vivid orthomosaics and ultra-accurate 3D digital surface models. The senseFly S.O.D.A. 3D is one step up from the S.O.D.A. in that it changes orientation during flight to capture three images (2 oblique, 1 nadir) for a much wider field of view. It is compatible with Pix4Dmapper, for quick, robust image processing. The senseFly Aeria X is a drone photogrammetry powerhouse, with the added advantage of offering outstanding image detail and clarity in almost all light conditions.

All the data in the world is useless unless you know what to do with it. There are many construction surveying software solutions available that can provide users with a large range of processed data over the surveyed area. Drone packages such as the Mavic 2 Enterprise/Enterprise Dual, the Phantom 4 RTK, and the Matrice 210 V2 RTK make it easy to integrate flight planning, data storage, and processing with the DJI FlightHub, and DJI Terra Mapping Software. It’s also easy to create a custom workflow and integrate data with the processing software of your choice.