More and more land departments now accept drone data for cadastre. They use the drone’s orthomosaic (or orthophoto), for example, to create or update land cover and single object layers. Drone-based topographic mapping is even more widely employed, for example on new developments (e.g. for building construction, noise barrier design).

The number of applications for  drone-derived digital surface and terrain models is virtually limitless—from importing drone DSMs into CAD to build virtual models to using a drone’s orthomosaics to define boundaries or employing drone-derived DTMs to simulate flooding.

From measuring cut and fill, to performing pre- and as-built surveys, solutions such as the eBee X fixed-wing drone are revolutionising the working lives of construction surveyors, saving them time and drastically reducing their need to physically access job sites.

By allowing professionals to collect accurate spatial data from above, rather than at ground level, surveying drones are both reducing the risk faced by surveyors and geologists, and boosting pit and quarry productivity through improved inventory management and planning.

Drone-derived high-resolution maps and 3D digital surface models are driving a new era of archaeological discovery by enabling teams to visually assess larger regions of interest more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before.