Aerial Cinematography: New York City
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sometimes known as drones, have taken the surveying industry to new heights. It’s common to call these unmanned aerial systems (UAS) when they’re outfitted with GPS and a high-resolution camera (UAS). Taking images and videos, as well as conducting traffic studies, are just a few of the new methods made possible by these remotely piloted aircraft. Providing aerial photogrammetry, 3D site modeling, photo comparisons, and aerial video, drones introduce a whole new dimension to the land surveying industry. A three-dimensional model of the construction area was built from an orthomosaic photograph of State Route 151. They’ve even proven useful for tasks like inspecting infrastructure and measuring stockpile or basin quantities. Using the aerial perspective that their drones provide, the Xizmo Media team is eager to provide its clients with a wider variety of services in land survey and civil engineering design.
The first step in every survey project is to have a conversation about the larger project needs, such as what information will be gathered and how the survey will fit into the bigger picture. Important considerations in assessing whether or not an aerial flight is appropriate to include site accessibility, limitations, and project limits. Here are some of the most often asked questions that can help you decide if an aerial survey is worthwhile.
- What surrounds the project site?
- What are the ground cover conditions?
- What deliverables are needed, and when are they needed?
Not all construction sites are suitable for airborne inspection and maintenance. Time and weather considerations call for reasonable anticipation. The precision of an aerial survey suffers if the ground below cannot be seen clearly. Getting FAA approval for a project site that is less than five miles from a designated airport can take anything from two days to two weeks. Maximizing the efficiency with which your project’s resources and funds are used can be achieved by careful consideration of the many elements that affect site accessibility, as well as your project’s own demands and goals.
The unmanned aerial vehicle can be piloted either manually or autonomously with human support. Fully autonomous flights are conducted in accordance with a flight plan created by the flight crew in advance. When a drone is flown autonomously, it sends data to a server in the cloud, which processes it and sends it back to a tablet. An unmanned aircraft system (UAS) pilot who is certified under FAA Part 107 watches the flight from the ground. The image resolution is dependent on the flying altitude, which is in turn determined by the existing topographic features of the site. Resolution decreases with increasing altitude, resulting in blurrier images and less reliable surface data. However, surveys can be conducted in less time and with smaller data files at higher altitudes, saving money and improving efficiency. In most cases, a commercial UAS is only authorized to fly at a height of 400 feet (AGL). Flying a UAV and collecting data is usually a breeze, but there is more work involved behind the scenes to make the data useful. A surface can be easily generated from the georeferenced coordinates and elevations provided by a UAV’s point cloud. The information the UAV gives is analyzed and processed by design technicians who then produce the required outputs.
Drone Land Survey: Brooklyn, New York
Many civil engineering tasks would be easier with the help of drones. There are, however, some exceptions when a drone might be the best option:
- Safety — rough terrain, heights, and other circumstances that pose safety risks to survey and engineering staff
- Level of Detail — UAVs can be flown at low altitudes to gather high-resolution data that rivals traditional survey methods
- Project Planning, Progress, & Closeout — UAVs can help capture existing site data that’s valuable in assisting with land planning and phasing. In addition, as the project progresses, a UAV can be used to track project milestones and provide aerial images of the result.
It is important to note that using a UAS to conduct a survey does not mean that ground surveyors or more conventional survey techniques can be abandoned. Instead, it’s meant to improve upon conventional survey techniques by providing more specific information and wider coverage. Ted and his coworkers have found that using the UAS improves the team’s productivity, decreases the amount of time spent collecting data in the field, and enhances the amount of usable data accessible for design.
The UAS’s horizontal and vertical errors must be smaller than the tolerances established by the site control points and the procedure used to get them. The precision of the flight survey is dependent on the proper placement of control points at the project site, as well as the logging and procedures that surround their creation. Aerial survey data verification and checking, in addition to boundary surveys, subterranean utility surveys, and bathymetric surveys, will always be necessary.
Contact Xizmo Media located in Brooklyn, New York to conduct your land survey and mapping.