Switched to drone mapping for my last site survey and saved 4 hours

Last week on a job out in Phoenix, I was dreading doing a manual survey for a 3-acre lot. I finally caved and rented a DJI drone with mapping software for the day. Walked the site once to set ground control points, then let the drone fly for 20 minutes. Got back to the office and had a full topo map with contours in under an hour. It would have taken me all day with a total station. Has anyone else made the switch from traditional surveying to drone tech?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_lewis11d ago

Jumped into drone mapping for my last big site and honestly, it's a game changer. The time savings are wild, especially for bigger lots like that 3-acre one. I still use a total station for small residential jobs, but anything over an acre and the drone comes out every time. It's just way less tiring too, no more hiking around with the pole for hours in the sun.

ivangrant11d ago

Did you run into any issues with the ground control points on uneven terrain? I tried a similar setup on a rocky site and the software kept glitching on the elevation data. Ended up having to re-fly the whole thing twice. The time savings are real for flat lots though, no question about that.