How Accurate is Drone Surveying? A Comprehensive Guide

Drone surveying has become increasingly popular in recent years, and for good reason. With the PPK option, it is possible to achieve absolute accuracy of up to 1 cm (0.4 inches), something that was previously only possible with ground-based reconnaissance equipment. This requires optimal conditions, flying above hard surfaces and using well-marked, highly visible and manually measured control points, and a well-established base station. The deployment of drones can help reduce time on site and equipment rental costs when performing inspections from the air. If you're hiring a drone inspection company, all you need to do is tell them the area you want to scan.

Check that the drone's battery and connected devices, such as tablets, are fully charged and that the memory card in the drone's camera has enough empty space to capture the entire project. Drones can be adversely affected by factors such as weather conditions, terrain profiles and, of course, drone hardware. If one point is low (for example, 100 m above sea level) and another point is high (for example, 200 m above sea level), the drone will gradually rise or fall between those two levels; that is, if set at a flight altitude of 120 m, the drone can start a grid line 220 m high and end up 320 m high, but it will not reflect any variation in the terrain between those two points (e.g., the GPS equipment inside the drone is not particularly accurate).The aerial images taken by drones greatly accelerate and simplify topographic studies for land management and planning. Orthomosaic and digital surface model created from aerial images taken by the WingtraOne topographic and cartographic drone.

Drone maps created with good quality drone equipment, careful flight planning, GPS ground control points for commercial use and processing software for commercial use can be accurate to about 2-3 cm horizontally and about 5-6 cm vertically. By testing the accuracy of drones with known data sets, operators and surveyors can determine how accurate the drones as a whole are. Drone Site Surveys uses people and technology to develop solutions that help companies work smarter and safer, while reducing their carbon footprint. It's great to see useful information available for free and will become more important as more industries adopt drone topography and mapping. Reconnaissance drones generate high-resolution orthomosaics and detailed 3D models of areas where low-quality, outdated or even nonexistent data is available. The absolute accuracy of drone survey data is measured by comparing the observed coordinates (the positions of the control points in the model) with the authorized positions (the coordinates measured independently of the same points on the ground).In conclusion, drone surveying offers an accurate way to map out an area quickly and efficiently.

With proper planning and execution, it is possible to achieve absolute accuracy of up to 1 cm (0.4 inches). By testing the accuracy of drones with known data sets, operators can determine how accurate their drones are. Drone Site Surveys provides solutions that help companies work smarter and safer while reducing their carbon footprint.