New to surveying

[Hivemapper]

I am very green to the drone side of things but I am currently surveying with a GPS Rover and it is mainly taking contours/spot heights i was hoping to achieve some time savings on site with the drone.

I have work on that would warrant surveying with the drone and it would just improve my current surveys if i was to be set up with the drone.

I am mainly worried that if i go through with purchasing a drone it may be no use to me without spending another couple of thousand on software and so on.

If you're still interested in mapping I think you might be interested in trying our product. It's cloud based and currently completely free to use, no processing limits or annual license. Our focus is making the process as simple and easy as possible. Simply fly an area and then upload your video. We also allow you to build and grow your map over time, so you can collect a small area and then add to it later vs creating smaller maps that are only view-able as standalone models.

Hivemapper - Collect video, upload to Hivemapper, and see your map.

We're very interested in getting feedback in this time so we'd love to hear from people new to the industry as well as the pros who are already on pix4, dd, or any of the other 3D reconstruction apps.

 

[chascoadmin]

Another specific drone for surveying is the phantom 4 RTK. A little more expensive...

A little more? Try 5-6x more. Someone new to drone mapping should not start with a P4RTK.

They should start with an inexpensive drone that has many of the features that other more expensive drones haves and practice mapping in flying while they get their license.

There are also other forums that are much more suited to bringing a surveyor into drone mapping.

P4 Pro V2.0, Mavic 2 Pro and the Autel Evo II would be the best to start actual production and good examples of features to look for in a less expensive training drone.

Two forums that we be much better for drone mapping would be forum.dronedeploy.com and community.emlid.com.

 

[chascoadmin]

If you're still interested in mapping I think you might be interested in trying our product. It's cloud based and currently completely free to use, no processing limits or annual license. Our focus is making the process as simple and easy as possible. Simply fly an area and then upload your video. We also allow you to build and grow your map over time, so you can collect a small area and then add to it later vs creating smaller maps that are only view-able as standalone models.

Hivemapper - Collect video, upload to Hivemapper, and see your map.

We're very interested in getting feedback in this time so we'd love to hear from people new to the industry as well as the pros who are already on pix4, dd, or any of the other 3D reconstruction apps.

This would be a great way to start learning! You should be aware upfront though that this is not going to be a good solution for serious high accuracy survey mapping. There are specific tasks that need to be performed and the right data output that surveyors need. there are also manual adjustments in processing that need to be made for specific tasks that Hivemapper is not capable of. I've been surveying for almost 20 years and drone mapping for a little over four so trust me when I say that you going to need a solution that integrates with other softwares much better.

 

[ARMeyer]

I’ve been surveying for 17 years and licensed in CA for 7 (I’m a civil engineer and have had my license for 16 years). I own a civil engineering firm and have been in business for 17 years. I got a P4 RTK for aerial surveying last June (2019) and between getting Pt 107 certified, establishing policy for insurance, learning the machine, and my doing that while doing my engineering work, it took me several months until I finally flew it for a job. I use Pix4D to process (which I really like) but it has been quite the learning curve to do all of it (and I can learn new software quickly). If I didn’t have an established business, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. But now, I’m using it very effectively on jobs and the work product I’m turning out is quite amazing. I was just commenting to my dad & business partner that it is awesome to be able to revisit a site in 3D in the software and not have to go back out to the site to take measurements that I didn’t know I needed at the time of the survey.

 

[chascoadmin]

I’ve been surveying for 17 years and licensed in CA for 7 (I’m a civil engineer and have had my license for 16 years). I own a civil engineering firm and have been in business for 17 years. I got a P4 RTK for aerial surveying last June (2019) and between getting Pt 107 certified, establishing policy for insurance, learning the machine, and my doing that while doing my engineering work, it took me several months until I finally flew it for a job. I use Pix4D to process (which I really like) but it has been quite the learning curve to do all of it (and I can learn new software quickly). If I didn’t have an established business, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. But now, I’m using it very effectively on jobs and the work product I’m turning out is quite amazing. I was just commenting to my dad & business partner that it is awesome to be able to revisit a site in 3D in the software and not have to go back out to the site to take measurements that I didn’t know I needed at the time of the survey.

It is great to hear another Surveyor actually using drones for mapping. Many of the older RPLS's in our area continue to pass down the old line of thinking and won't even run robotic instruments. If you ever want to get deep into accuracy and integration with design software there are several who have been doing it a while here and these sites which are probably better for a Surveyor.

forum.dronedeploy.com
community.emlid.com
commercialdronepilots.com

Feel free to PM me any time.

 

[ARMeyer]

Thanks! I really enjoy surveying and technology is something that we see as a tool to increase efficiency, but we don’t let it decrease the quality of our work. Is been exciting to add the UAS to our arsenal of GPS systems, digital level & robotic total station!

 

[chascoadmin]

digital level & robotic total station!

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