Drone Surveys

Drone surveys have become indispensable for mapping out sites, especially when dealing with underground services. Let’s explore the advantages and ease of using orthomosaics in this context:

This creates simple workflows and outputs that can be interpreted by site teams without the use of expensive CAD software or printed site maps within hours of surveying the site.

  1. Accurate Mapping of Underground Services:
    • Precision: Drones equipped with a variety of sensors can map sites, capturing detailed 3D models. These models provide accurate information about buried utilities, pipes, and cables when used with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey data.
  2. Advantages of Orthomosaics:
    • High Detail and Accuracy: Orthomosaics are stitched together from multiple overlapping drone-captured photos. They offer unparalleled detail and geometric accuracy, making them ideal for analyzing underground layouts.
    • Distortion-Free Representation: Unlike standard aerial photos, orthomosaics correct for terrain relief, camera tilt, and lens distortion. The resulting images provide a true-to-scale view of the surface.
    • Uniform Scale: Orthophotos within an orthomosaic maintain consistent scaling, allowing surveyors to trust measurements for true distances.
    • Cost-Effectiveness: Orthomosaics can be produced faster and at a lower cost than traditional surveying methods, especially for large areas.
  3. Ease of Use:
    • Automated Flight Paths: Drones follow automated flight paths, ensuring consistent image collection. Precise timing and angles are critical for successful orthomosaic creation.
    • Orthomosaic Software: Tools like DJI Terra facilitate orthomosaic generation. Surveyors can process images into accurate maps without manual stitching.
    • Ground Control Points (GCPs): Although orthomosaics enhance efficiency, using GCPs for georeferencing remains essential. GCPs link the orthomosaic to real-world coordinates.

Call us today for a Drone Survey Orthomasaic for your site today.

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Underground Detection Equipment Limitations

  • Ground penetrating radar does has limited penetration through very dense compacted material, saturated soil or soils covered in reinforced concrete
  • Where the dielectric value of the surrounding soil and the service you are looking for are close to each other, a very weak or no reflection will be visible
  • The GPR unit has to be in contact with the soil surface and irregular surfaces cannot be scanned
  • Outside interference from high voltage underground or overhead lines
  • Detected underground services cannot always be service-specifically identified unless they are visible at a termination point, manhole or according to existing information
  • In areas where underground services are densely concentrated in sub-metre areas, services will be indicated as a band of services. Equipment used in the proposed survey can’t distinguish between individual services in such areas if ground conditions do not allow it
  • Services buried on top of each other can often not be distinguished using electrical or radar detection methodologies
  • Depth of detected services can be supplied by the avoidance tool if a good signal connection can be made or by GPR within a 10% accuracy
  • Dense clay formations, high water tables, rubble used as backfill, excessive steel reinforcement in concrete or even load shedding can influence the accuracy of the equipment used and the outcome of the survey
  • Whilst employing appropriate equipment, processes and best endeavors at all times, no guarantee can be made that any particular element of buried infrastructure will be properly detected or parameterized by the proposed survey due to the large number of variables encountered on different sites. For critical applications it is always recommended that a survey be followed by careful hand excavation and air knife probing