One of the first steps in land development is site reconnaissance. From choosing highway routes to designing an airfield, engineers need to thoroughly investigate the construction site and gather essential details on topography, trees and plant life, soil quality, structures, utility lines, groundwater levels, and more. By gathering this preliminary research, engineers can detect any potential hazards in the area, map out natural resources and historic sites, determine the scope of the project, and identify the most practical, cost-efficient routes or sites.

Traditionally, the site reconnaissance process starts on foot. An engineer would bring tools such as a prismatic compass, clinometer, pedometer, aneroid barometer, and a pair of binoculars to visually inspect the area and calculate relative heights of points, the gradient of slopes, and other vital topographical information. Surveyors would often rely on pre-existing maps to gather data.

Modern site reconnaissance and surveying rely more heavily on technologies that are provide much more accurate measurements, such as satellite-based GPS (Global Positioning System) and laser measuring systems. Since companies rely on precise information on boundaries, utilities, flood certifications, etc. to carry out a project to completion, it’s essential for these surveys to be as accurate and detailed as possible.    

Drones using RGB or multispectral cameras and LiDAR sensors can gather incredibly detailed, insightful data from above. This imagery and LiDAR data can be plugged into photogrammetric software, such as Summit Evolution, to create 3D models of the site and map out topography, vegetated areas, previous structures and more. Here is how this technology is transforming how companies do industrial site reconnaissance.  

Want to make the most of your drone imagery? Try Summit Evolution from DAT/EM.   

The Benefits of Drones for Site Reconnaissance  

A major benefit of drones for site reconnaissance is that they are easy to operate. Surveying land on foot can take days or even months to complete, depending on the size and accessibility of the site. Areas with difficult terrain or dense forestry can make it even more difficult to efficiently gather information. And a large staff of people may be needed to fully survey a site. UAVs, on the other hand, are quick and easy to operate. They quickly and easily fly over inaccessible areas and can cover large regions in a matter of hours. Speeding up the reconnaissance portion of a project allows the construction process to start much earlier.

While satellites, helicopters, and other manned aerial vehicles can capture images of the area from above, they don’t have the maneuverability capabilities of a drone. Drones offer the perfect middle ground between land and satellite mapping. They can be flown at a high enough altitude to capture images from above but at a much lower altitude than aircraft or satellites, gathering more detailed, higher-resolution images. Additionally, drones are not as limited by atmospheric conditions as helicopters and satellites. Drones can easily fly below clouds and weatherproofed drones are more capable of flying in windy, cold, or even wet weather.

Additionally, drones are incredibly cost-efficient. The savings in time alone greatly bring down costs. Paying a survey team for a reconnaissance survey that takes weeks comes with a much higher salary cost than paying for a couple-hour drone mapping session. And compared to the cost of capturing aerial photography from a manned helicopter or plane, drones win every time. For one, drones are affordable to purchase. Decent commercial models are priced at around $5000. A light aircraft like a Cessna, though, costs an average of $150,000+ to purchase. Then there’s the cost of hangar storage, which can be approximately $275 a month, insurance which can be up to $2000 a year, and fuel and maintenance costs of about $125 for every hour of use. This doesn’t even include the cost of installing a camera, AGPS or IMU.

LiDAR-Equipped Drones for Remote Sensing

LiDAR is an advanced remote sensing technology that maps the earth’s surface by flying over an area with a pulsing laser and calculating distance based on the time it takes for each pulse to travel to a surface and back to the sensor. This laser technology is used to offer vital details about the terrain, which includes measuring elevation, tree density and height, and contours. It can also be used in urban areas to map out manmade structures and roadways. Bathymetric LiDAR lasers can measure seafloors and riverbeds.

While LiDAR sensors are often placed on aircrafts, this technology is now available on UAVs.  LiDAR-equipped drones provide a high degree of accuracy, are easy to deploy and can be flown inside mines and other hard-to-access or unsafe areas.

Accurate Photogrammetry With Drone Data

The data drones collect are not fully realized until it is processed through photogrammetry software. And UAVs and photogrammetry complement each other perfectly.

There are many potential ways photogrammetry can be used, including:

• Determining watershed by mapping runoff estimation and flood risk assessment
• Detecting root systems or other obstructions to new roads and sidewalks
• Conducting a bare earth analysis of the site by removing buildings, trees, etc.
• Creating elevation models and marking contour lines and breaklines
• Taking precise surface measurements, including volume and depth
• Tracking changes in earth movement over time
• Mapping out current infrastructure, roads, buildings, power lines, etc.
• Surveying inside mines, coal reserves, and other underground structures
• Looking for previous signs of fire damage or potential fire risks

The Summit Evolution photogrammetric workshop allows companies performing site reconnaissance to create their own accurate 3D maps of the area and gather a wide variety of important details. This software can use a wide variety of film types, including imagery captured by a UAS. It also supports LiDAR, orthophotos, RPC satellites, scanned aerial films, and more. It can import third-party pre-processed UAS projects, and it digitizes 3D vectors directly into AutoCAD, MicroStation, ArcGIS, or Global Mapper.  

The DAT/EM Ortho+Mosaic module can take imagery taken from drones to create orthomosaics, and the Terrain Visualizer tool and Contour Creator show accurate previews of the site’s terrain. For site reconnaissance for a future airfield, the Professional Summit Evolution licensing level includes Airfield 3D, which is a standards-compliant airspace obstruction mapping tool.

Landscape is our primary processing system for LiDAR data.  It is included with the Summit UAS licensing level and can be integrated with any of our other bundles. Together, these two software display point clouds superimposed over stereo imagery. With Summit Evolution, it is possible to then edit or select these data points and collect vector data.

Try Summit Evolution With a Free Demo

The right photogrammetric software can revolutionize your business or engineering firm. From every phase in a land development project, from site reconnaissance to construction, drone imagery and 3D maps can provide you with the information you need to strategize routes, predict costs, and make informed business decisions.

Summit Evolution is a cost effective, user-friendly solution for your photogrammetric needs. It works with a wide variety of file types, images, and modeling software. If you’ve been relying on land surveys and manual measurements to gather essential data on project sites, you’ll instantly benefit from the reduced costs, decreased time and effort, and increased accuracy that comes with using drones and 3D maps to supplement your site reconnaissance process.

DAT/EM Systems International is based in Alaska and have been industry leaders in photogrammetry since 1987. Our photogrammetric software and hardware tools are used across the world and is constantly evolving to accommodate our clients needs and keep up with the evolving industry.

Want to try the latest version of Summit Evolution? Schedule your free demo today.