UK Topographic Survey

BennG · Jan 11, 2017

I work for Local Government and we have been using UAV to perform relatively simple photography and video survey so far.

We are however interested in whether we could purchase a drone to perform 3D surveys of land levels and buildings.

I've done a bit of research and can see that LiDAR and Laser are possible options for this. We would be looking to export the survey to AutoCAD. Does anyone have any experience with this and recommendations, or even who to make enquiries with?

Thanks very much.

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Casey53 · Jan 11, 2017

ebee has 3D mapping that imports into AutoCAD. Some of their drones claim an accuracy of 3.1 inches with their software and almost an hour of auto-flight time. Much better than DJI. That or maybe Trimble who also has surveying drones with better elevation accuracy.

BennG · Jan 12, 2017

Casey53 said:
ebee has 3D mapping that imports into AutoCAD. Some of their drones claim an accuracy of 3.1 inches with their software and almost an hour of auto-flight time. Much better than DJI. That or maybe Trimble who also has surveying drones with better elevation accuracy.

Thanks very much. Do you know what technology they use to do the mapping? Thanks.

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bluelight.support · Jan 12, 2017

Casey53 said:
Some of their drones claim an accuracy of 3.1 inches with their software and almost an hour of auto-flight time. Much better than DJI.

I get between 1-3cm accuracy from an Inspire 1 Pro with ground control points and post processing, which i can put into a number of packages for manipulation. I mainly do surveys, major incident scenes, etc - pm me if you'd like to chat - its a complicated subject!

EamonUrtone · Jan 24, 2017

Hi,
I can't comment on the accuracy, but we've been using the Inspire 1 PRO with Agi Soft Photo Scan & Maya to produce some high detailed models of large surveyed areas, please let me know if you would like to see some examples.
Thanks
Eamon

bluelight.support · Jan 24, 2017

EamonUrtone said:
but we've been using the Inspire 1 PRO with Agi Soft Photo Scan

winning combination!

Cornscot · Jan 24, 2017

bluelight.support said:
winning combination!

But $3499! Am getting into this and assessing expenditure v return. Seems the use of GCPs is essential for high accuracy and Drone Deploy comes in at $2999 but then GCPs are $79 per map. Umm, expensive area but one that really fascinates me!

bluelight.support · Jan 24, 2017

Cornscot said:
But $3499! Am getting into this and assessing expenditure v return. Seems the use of GCPs is essential for high accuracy and Drone Deploy comes in at $2999 but then GCPs are $79 per map. Umm, expensive area but one that really fascinates me!

which is why i said drone + photoscan pro is winning combination - you control everything yourself on your own local machine.

What are you trying to achieve, as you may be happy with the 1-5m accuracy that comes out of the DJI itself, in which case a cheaper GNSS unit to confirm altitude would probably do you. Drone Deploy from what i remembers is a monthly plan so unsure where $3k came from? Do they also charge extra for GCP?

simon@DEF · Jan 27, 2017

Give me a call if you wish to see what can be achieved. This little video shows part of our aerial surveying capabilities:

RMartin · Jan 31, 2017

bluelight.support said:
which is why i said drone + photoscan pro is winning combination - you control everything yourself on your own local machine.

What are you trying to achieve, as you may be happy with the 1-5m accuracy that comes out of the DJI itself, in which case a cheaper GNSS unit to confirm altitude would probably do you. Drone Deploy from what i remembers is a monthly plan so unsure where $3k came from? Do they also charge extra for GCP?

Drone Deploy charges for each GCP per map. Good service if you do not need that level of accuracy but if you are doing survey grade work you need to be processing your own imagery. Simactive's Correlator3D UAV or Pix4D are both good choices if you have the budget. You might also invest in a workstation that can handle that amount of data in a timely fashion.