DirtMate Centimeter-level machine guidance and fleet telematics for earthmoving
AeroPoints High-accuracy ground points for faster, reliable surveys
Propeller CAD AI-powered earthworks design built directly on your real survey terrain
Drone & hardware integrations Connect Propeller with your existing tools seamlessly
Drone topographic surveying delivers four outputs in a single flight: orthophoto, contour map, digital terrain model, and point cloud. Traditional methods can’t match that combination for speed, visual richness, or team accessibility. Combined with Propeller, site teams can measure volumes, compare progress against design, and stay aligned from planning through to as-built.
Drone technology is becoming a standard tool for surveyors and site managers. It’s ushering in a new era of topographic surveying, enabling the capture of detailed site maps, including contours and terrain, for a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods.
With conventional GPS and total stations, covering even a small site takes significant time. And that’s before the office time required to process data into final linework and surfaces.
When traditional survey costs and processing time are factored in, covering large sites regularly can quickly become unfeasible.
Using drones with a platform like Propeller gives site personnel the tools to make accurate estimates, track progress, and act on data-driven decisions. This can save a major civil construction project millions of dollars.
Grade Tech: real ROI numbers
Source: Drone Program ROI: How Grade Tech Saved $1.7M (and Counting)
Drone data is already being used across land development projects. From early-stage planning and designing land subdivisions, through to preconstruction assessments, it’s helping teams capture accurate data at every stage, including progress tracking and final as-builts.
Civil contractors are among the earliest adopters. Drone-captured data, when used with ground control systems like AeroPoints and processing software like Propeller, provides a faster, safer way to produce digital terrain models and aerial site maps than previous methods.
Compared to traditional topographic survey data, which is essentially a set of linework, drone surveys include four deliverables in a single flight. The result is a highly accurate, visual dataset ready for analysis.
Orthophoto
A geometrically corrected aerial image of the site, accurate enough to take measurements directly from the map.
Contour map
Elevation contours generated from the survey data, ready for design review and earthwork planning.
Digital terrain model
A 3D surface model of the site terrain, used for volume calculations, cut-fill analysis, and progress tracking.
Dense point cloud
A high-density 3D representation of the site surface, giving teams detailed spatial data for inspection and analysis.
With easy-to-use tools to measure and annotate datasets, stockpile volumes can be accurately measured in under a minute and haul road grades measured in seconds.
Stockpile volumes in under a minute
Measure stockpile volumes and haul road grades directly from the survey data without setting foot on the pile.
Surface vs. design comparison
View site terrain against design to see exactly where material should be added or removed, across the whole site at once.
Timeline slider for progress tracking
Track changes in specific areas or across the whole site over time, keeping the full project team aligned on progress.
Boundary linework overlay
Overlay boundary linework over an orthophoto to verify that construction works stay within the defined area.
Learn more about using drone data and Propeller for surveying and construction.
We’re happy to show you how Propeller can power your worksite, and boost productivity.
