Drone surveying and mapping in Agios Sozomenos area, Potamia
Drone mapping can potentially help you save time and money on your surveying project, since it is possible to carry out topographic surveys of the same quality as the highly accurate measurements collected by traditional methods, but in a fraction of the time and with less workload of surveyors in the field. Drone mapping has huge potential for a number of sectors including construction, parcel division, cadastre, agriculture, forestry etc.
Geoimaging ltd with an extensive experience and expertise in flying drones to create maps and 3D models offer UAV mapping solutions. Example of such a work is the case study of an aerial survey carried out by our company in an agricultural area in Agios Sozomenos village. More specifically, we were asked by our client to create a planimetric and altimetric survey plan of three adjoining large land parcels for private purposes. Due to the huge acreage, it was more reasonable in terms of time and cost saving to carry out the survey by using a drone, rather than the conventional surveying equipment. This method would provide high-accuracy results quickly since UAVs can fly in low altitude and therefore can capture high-quality images.
The general procedure of the aerial mapping lasted only a few days. The first step of the procedure was to install targets on the ground in locations specified by our surveyors. These had to be large enough to be visible in aerial photos. Then we surveyed these targets and provided their horizontal and vertical coordinates by using survey grade global positioning systems (GPS). The next step was to schedule the flight over the site-area to capture the imagery. Our experienced personnel actually flied the drone over the property, taking a series of photos with a large format aerial camera. During this process, multiple overlapping photos of the ground are captured from different angles as the aircraft flies autonomously along a flight path that we specify beforehand. This ensures we don’t miss anything and enough image overlap is achieved (70% front overlap and 60% side overlap). For the specific survey, the flight was executed at a height of 80m, lasted 217 minutes and covered a region of 1300m x 1300m.
After acquiring the aerial images, the data were then processed properly in the office to create 3D models, large orthographic photomosaics, contour maps and elevation models (DTM, DSM). During this process, images are aligned together based on the known ground target locations. The final georeferenced products of the project area give the ability to take accurate measurements of length, area and volume straight from the map. At the end of the whole procedure, the final products are manipulated properly in a CAD drafting software to add other descriptive information to the final deliverables.