Drone Mapping Services
Drone mapping and digital twins
Drone mapping and digital twin creation are methods for digitally replicating large areas or assets. It uses the photos taken by a drone to digitally recreate land, buildings etc. A Digital Twin is the same sort of thing but usually a specific asset or object. Imagine a 3 Dimensional high accuracy reconstruction of a cell phone tower or a church spire. They are now the go to technology for ultra accurate large scale modelling.
Orthomosaic maps are especially useful when an up to date, higher resolution version of Google Earth is required. Much of our work has been with conservation organisations and land owners who want to know about protected areas and status of various animal and plant populations.
This extremely useful technique utilises drones or UAVs, fitted with cameras and third party flight automation software, to take hundreds or even thousands of referenced photos of an asset. Those photos are then incorporated, like a giant 2 or 3 dimensional jigsaw, into a map or digital representation of the subject.
Drones are especially useful as they already contain high resolution cameras taking GPS referenced photos, and can cover huge areas remotely.
Mapping Packages
Our industry leading drone camera platforms produce the highest quality referenced photos. We can also edit and produce 2D and 3D maps as well as digital twins for distribution to clients.
Media can be edited with titles, infographics, contact details etc in an easily distributable media format.
Because the size of a property or asset can vary hugely, it’s hard to predict time and costs. Parameters like required resolution also influence the time needed to complete the fight mission.
Drone Mapping Case Study
My largest and most complex commission involved mapping an entire island conservation area and surrounding reef in a tropical atoll in the Pacific.
This was no small task and required a 3 hour boat ride from the berth to get there…… Planning therefore was of paramount importance. Logistically I had to contend with the remote nature, the fact that the island had no shelter, the potential for changing weather, sunlight reflecting off the water and the mapping software estimations for battery use and flight durations. As it turned out when we got there the wind was much stronger than we had predicted and whilst we could fly, the flight duration was much reduced. This meant we couldn’t finish the map in one day.
Long story short, on the 2nd attempt I completed the mapping mission and returned to base to output an enormous Orthomosaic of the area. The ultra high resolution map was of particular interest as it shows individual nesting seabirds, tree species diversity, coral cover, erosion patterns and Cyclone damage in this protected conservation area.
If you are looking for more time specific drone surveys of subjects like traffic, car parks, pedestrian movement, wildlife or vegetation, consider our Drone Surveys Services here.