How is UAV drone mapping utilized?
An increasing number of construction sites are turning to drone mapping to boost speed, quality, and efficiency. As reported by Allied Market Research, the construction drone industry is expected to approach $12 billion by 2027.
Despite its growth, drone mapping is still a relatively new tool for many contractors and surveyors. Also referred to as aerial surveying, drone mapping entails capturing overhead images and using specialized software to stitch them together into a 3D representation of a job site.
If you’re not sure how UAV drone mapping functions or what advantages it offers, don’t worry—we’ll outline its applications and explain how it can assist you in mapping and measuring your worksites.
What is drone mapping?
Before exploring the various applications of drone mapping, it’s important to begin with a basic overview of the process: photogrammetry.
Photogrammetry is the science of extracting physical information from two-dimensional images, often aerial photos taken by drones. By merging overlapping, geotagged images of the same features from different perspectives, photogrammetry software creates photorealistic 3D models of topographic surfaces.
Drone photogrammetry involves capturing aerial photographs of a site to produce a 3D map that includes GPS coordinates and precise measurements.
How is drone mapping used?
Drone mapping produces a digital twin—a computerized replica of your worksite—each time you fly. This allows you to replace labor-intensive base and rover surveys with a quick and efficient drone survey.
Software such as the Propeller Platform transforms your drone images and flight data into an interactive 3D map with many practical applications.
-
-
Measure stockpile volumes: For mining and aggregates professionals, managing stockpile inventory is a primary application of drone surveying. Drones enable surveyors to determine the exact amount of material available, track changes since the last survey, and identify what still needs to be extracted.
-
Cut/fill measurements: Earthworks contractors need precise data on how much dirt is being moved, especially to balance materials on site. Drone mapping provides an easy way to calculate cut and fill quantities.
-
Progress tracking: Drone mapping gives a clear view of a project at every stage, from initial takeoff to the present. You can monitor progress over time to see what work has been completed and when, eliminating guesswork for you and your stakeholders.
-
Drone mapping applications across industries
Construction
With drone mapping, construction professionals can efficiently survey large or hard-to-access areas for precise site measurements at every stage of a project, from pre-bid to project takeoff. This approach reduces survey costs and speeds up turnaround times, enabling contractors to prevent cost overruns and project delays. Benefits include:
-
Generating 3D site models to share with clients
-
Effortlessly capturing accurate pre-bid topographies
-
Minimizing downtime and improving scheduling
-
Calculating volume measurements (cut/fill)
Land surveying
Surveyors and GIS professionals use drones because they simplify the process of creating accurate, three-dimensional topographic maps, making it safer and more efficient. Drones can fly over hazardous or challenging terrain and deliver clear topographic data in as little as ten minutes. Benefits include:
-
Producing topographical surveys in about 24 hours
-
Achieving accuracy up to 1/10 foot
-
Utilizing local site calibrations
Mining & Aggregates
Traditionally, surveying large mining sites and quarries on foot has been both dangerous and time-consuming, making such surveys infrequent and costly. Drones now enable rapid data collection from your mining or aggregates worksite without the hazards of climbing stockpiles or navigating around moving machinery. Key benefits include:
-
Efficient stockpile inventory management
-
Haul road monitoring
-
Streamlined operation planning and assessment
-
Visualizing progress relative to linework and design files
Waste Management
Drone surveying enables quick verification of landfill slope construction to ensure regulatory compliance and optimal use of available airspace. It also allows for fast, precise calculations of compaction densities and remaining airspace. Key advantages include:
-
- Accurate calculations of density and volume
-
Visualizing cell progress
-
Enhancing efficiency and maximizing cell lifespan
-
Advantages of drone mapping
Now that you know drone mapping creates 3D models of worksites with accuracy up to 1/10 of a foot, here’s how this benefits engineers, project managers, and surveyors in their daily work:
-
Enhanced worksite safety: Drones can survey dangerous areas and measure height, slope, and volume, eliminating the need for personnel to physically access risky locations.
-
Better communication: Ensure field and office teams stay aligned with a unified source of truth available in the cloud. 3D maps help settle disputes, and a centralized platform with unlimited users simplifies collaboration.
-
Improved labor efficiency: It’s expensive when workers arrive only to find they must wait for another team to finish. Drone mapping keeps everyone updated on the worksite’s current status, reducing downtime.
-
Lower costs and faster surveys: Drone flights can be completed in as little as 10 minutes, making them much more cost-effective than traditional surveying methods.
How Accurate is Drone Mapping
Through a process called photogrammetry drone mapping is capable of providing incredibly accurate surveying results across very large areas of space. Photogrammetry is the process of stitching together a large number of photographs that can later be analyzed to measure distances and volume calculations down to very specific measurements. Drone mapping and surveying is capable of providing the most accurate surveying results in the quickest and most cost effective way possible.
While other forms of surveying like traditional surveying or base and rover surveying can also deliver highly accurate results they tend to take a much larger amount of time and resources to gather. In addition, they also require more specific skill sets to operate and can be much more error prone than drone mapping which is capable of surveying enormous areas highly accurately due to its vertical based perspective and cutting edge software like Propeller that can measure things incredibly accurately.
How much does a mapping drone cost?
Depending on what type and quality of drone you need, the answer to this question can vary greatly, but generally speaking drones that are fit for surveying for mapping purposes are of a high quality and a bit more expensive than consumer-grade drones. On the low end a drone fit for surveying could be as cheap as \$370 like the Parrot PF728000. On the high end some of the best made drones in the world can cost more than \$10,000 like the DJI Matrice 300 RTK Universal Edition .
Understanding what you need from your drone is necessary before this question can be answered accurately for everyone. If you need something with long battery life and the ability to survey large industrial sites like mining and construction sites we would recommend something like the DJI Phantom 4 RTK which offers all the necessary features to map sites at an industrial scale but with industry leading affordability and reliability. But if you are someone who is just interested in drones for recreational purposes you could look towards lower price ranges around only a couple hundred dollars or less.
Drone Mapping Software
Drone mapping software allows earthworks and civil construction companies to map and survey extensive land areas using drones or UAVs. The drone first flies over the site, capturing overlapping images of the terrain. By merging these overlapping photos, drone mapping tools such as Propeller can create photorealistic 3D models of topographic surfaces.
Propeller's solution utilizes photogrammetry to simplify data processing and generates 3D maps that assist earthworks professionals in tracking project progress. The software enables users to calculate area, volume, slope, and various other measurements directly from their 3D maps. These measurements are highly precise—accurate to within 1/10th of a foot (3 cm).
Using drones and mapping software for surveys helps contractors lower their survey costs and provides teams with current progress data, allowing them to complete more work in less time. Additionally, comprehensive visual timelines from drone solutions like Propeller help resolve disputes, cut down on rework, and reduce fuel consumption on site.
Requirements for Drone Mapping
Before starting with drone mapping, you should first determine which type of drone best fits your needs. Quadcopter drones are widely used due to their portability, user-friendliness, and accessibility. Models such as DJI’s Phantom 4 RTK and Mavic 3 Enterprise feature high-quality cameras well-suited for mapping worksites.
VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) or fixed-wing drones are optimal for covering extensive areas. These drones not only fly faster but can also remain airborne for up to an hour on a single battery, making them highly effective for mapping corridors and other long, narrow regions.
Accurate drone mapping also requires ground-level correction, as GPS alone is only accurate to within two to five meters. To address this, ground control points (GCPs) must be set up on your site prior to flight. GCPs are stationary markers on the ground that the drone records during its aerial survey. Smart GCPs, like Propeller’s AeroPoints, can wirelessly transmit their location data to your mapping software, providing a reliable “ground truth” reference for your aerial surveys.
Finally, selecting the right drone mapping software is crucial. The software you choose should be as reliable as your drone and GCPs. Ideally, it should offer a complete solution, enabling you to plan surveys, manage and process data, and publish the final results all in one platform.
