Drone Derived Products
Drones are an amazing tool for quick, accurate, and safe data capture. Off-the-shelf technology can easily achieved 1-2cm accuracy in both position and height and can assist many industries such as, mining, construction, agriculture, archaeology, renewable energy, and more.
Photogrammetry and LiDAR allow mass data collection, surpassing that of traditional surveying methods with unique perspectives that a total station or GNSS receiver simply cannot give.
Furthermore, it enables end users to generate a variety of products. From Digital Surface Models (DSMs) and Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), to pointclouds and Triangular Irregular Networks (TINs), orthomosaics and more. Combined with a GIS, these analyses can delve deeper and provide more crucial information for the decision-makers involved.
Below, we have an example of a drone-borne LiDAR derived dataset. The original output was a colourised and classified pointcloud. From there, these data were stored into a GIS that allowed us to experiment further with the spatial tools and functions. All of the below are based on raster data derived from the LiDAR dataset and are achievable within a GIS environment.
Aspect depicts the compass direction of each downhill slope faces for each location and is a useful tool for solar illumination.
Slope describes the steepness (or gradient) of each raster cell. An ideal candidate for identifying cross-country movement, access to remote site locations, etc.
Hillshade generates a shaded relief over the area of interest by considering the illumination (i.e., the sun for this example) source angle and shadows. This unique perspective is one tool that can assist archaeologists with desktop studies.
Digital Terrain Model (DTM) is an elevation based raster depicting the “bare-Earth” - in other words, all vegetation and man-made features have been removed. These models show the topography and elevation associated within each raster cell.
Further analysis can include:
Contours
Cut/Fill analysis
3D site visualisation/flythroughs
Least-cost route analysis
Flood risk analysis
Renewable energy site selection
And more
Our experienced and dedicated team can assist you further with product generation, drone data processing, and more. We also provide courses that focus on product generation and being able to produce cartographically correct products for you and your clients. Get in touch for more information.
