The process
From a red line boundary to files you can open
On the day
The order things happen in
- Step 1
You send the site and the purpose
A location, a boundary and one line about what the data is for. Feasibility, a planning drawing, an earthworks quantity, a progress record or an existing building at design stage all pull the flight in a different direction.
- Step 2
Airspace and access are cleared
The site is checked against airspace restrictions and against anything else over it, and ground access is arranged with whoever controls the site. Anything near an airport, a military airfield or a restricted area is settled before a date is agreed.
- Step 3
A fixed price comes back
One figure for the site, covering the flight, the processing and the outputs listed in the quote, with travel inside the coverage area included rather than added later.
- Step 4
The flight
The grid is flown automatically at a fixed height with the camera straight down, plus angled passes where the site has vertical faces or steep ground. Most sites are one visit of a couple of hours or less on the ground.
- Step 5
Processing
Imagery is aligned, stitched and tied to whatever reference the job uses, then the agreed outputs are exported. Nothing is invented to fill a gap the camera did not see.
- Step 6
Handover
A download link with the files, plus the written note. Raw imagery stays on file so a later output can usually be produced without flying the site again.
The report
The written note that comes with the files
Conditions on the day
Date, time, light, cloud and wind, because all four affect what a photogrammetric surface looks like.
What was flown
Height, pattern, image count and the extent actually covered, against the boundary you sent.
Reference used
The coordinate system, and whether the job was tied to surveyed control points or positioned from the aircraft alone.
Outputs supplied
Every file, its format and what it is for, so nobody has to guess from a filename.
Method for any quantity
The base surface a volume was calculated against, and what was excluded from it.
Where the data runs out
Tree cover, standing water, glass, deep shadow, anything occluded, and any part of the site the flight could not reach.
Timing
The written note comes within 48 hours of the flight. Most processed outputs follow on the same route. A very large area, a heavy point cloud or a mesh over a complicated structure takes longer to build, and you are told which of those yours is when the job is quoted rather than after it.
Weather and rules
The rules the flight runs under
Registration and qualification
Flown by a CAA registered operator holding an Operator ID, a Flyer ID and an A2 Certificate of Competency. That last one is what allows flying closer to people and property than the open default, which is what most built up sites need.
Insurance
Full commercial cover with Coverdrone. Certificates can go to your site team, your principal contractor or your client before a visit.
People on the ground
Flights are planned around the working area and around anyone who has not agreed to be part of it. On a live site that means a short conversation with whoever runs it before the aircraft goes up.
Weather
Mapping wants steady light and low wind. Flat cloud beats bright sun because it removes the shadows that confuse the processing. Rain, low cloud and strong wind move the date rather than degrade the job.
Before you book
Common questions
- What accuracy can you achieve?
- No figure is quoted on this site, deliberately. Positioning from the aircraft alone is good enough for planning drawings, feasibility work, progress records and estimating. If a drawing has to be relied on for setting out or a boundary, it needs surveyed control points established by a land surveyor, and the flight is tied to those instead.
- What does a mapping job cost?
- A fixed price per site, agreed before the visit, based on the area, what has to come out of it and how far it is from Exeter. Send the boundary and what you need and you get a price back, not an hourly rate that grows.
- How quickly do the files arrive?
- The written note comes within 48 hours of the flight. Processed outputs follow the same route for most sites; a very large area or a heavy point cloud takes longer to build, and you are told which yours is when the job is quoted.
- Do you need permission to fly over a site?
- You need the agreement of whoever controls the ground, and any airspace restriction over the site has to be checked and cleared first. Around Exeter, Yeovil, Chivenor and Hinkley Point in particular that means arranging things before the day rather than turning up and finding out.
- Can you fly a live construction site?
- Yes. It is the most common job on this site. Flights are planned around the working area, and five minutes with whoever runs the site beforehand is worth more than any amount of paperwork afterwards.
- What software do the files open in?
- GeoTIFF, DXF and shapefile outputs open in AutoCAD, QGIS, ArcGIS and most civils packages. Point clouds come as LAS or LAZ and meshes as OBJ or FBX. Say what you use at the brief stage and the exports are set up for it.
- Do you cover the whole of the South West?
- Base is Exeter, which puts most of Devon inside an hour, and Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset within reach for a day's work. Travel inside that range is part of the fixed price rather than a separate line.
- Can you fly in poor weather?
- Mapping wants steady light and low wind. Flat cloud is better than bright sun for a map because it kills the shadows, but rain, low cloud and strong wind all stop a flight. Dates are held loosely for that reason and moved rather than flown badly.
See the output formats
Request a mapping quote with Drone Mapping Services
Tell us the address and what you need looking at. Sam Hembury will come back with a fixed price and the next available slot.