Distribution and transmission networks are long, distributed and asset-dense. Site visits are slow, helicopter capture is expensive, and the data refresh that drives compliance and vegetation work is rarely current. Drone LiDAR captures the full substation, conductor and easement envelope in one flight — and every layer drops out by classification, not re-survey.
Substation buildings, equipment, fence lines, conductors, clearance envelopes and vegetation are all classified out of the same capture. Switch them on and off to see how the asset inventory, compliance map and vegetation breach report come from the same dataset.
One capture, many layers. Every layer here came from the same flight — classified and extracted in processing rather than re-flown or re-surveyed. Asset registers, clearance compliance and vegetation breaches all flow from one geo-referenced dataset, with the encroachment hotspots tied to specific tree clusters and conductor spans for direct work ordering.
Distribution and transmission networks span thousands of kilometres of easement and tens of thousands of assets. Keeping the dataset current with truck rolls, climbing crews and helicopter patrols is slow, costly and never quite complete.
A patrol checks the trees the patrol team can see. Between patrol points — in scrub, on private land, behind fences — vegetation grows on its own schedule and clearance breaches drift in unnoticed.
Pole, transformer, switchgear and tower inventories are accurate the day they're recorded and start decaying immediately. Field changes don't always make it back to GIS, and consultations against an outdated register cost time on every job.
Landowners build, plant, store and stockpile. Encroachment into a registered easement is common, expensive to resolve, and only obvious once someone's captured what's actually there.
Helicopter LiDAR is fast but expensive — economical at scale only for the largest transmission owners. For distribution operators and smaller networks, the cost gates the refresh cycle.
A drone LiDAR pass captures the corridor at conductor-level density at a fraction of helicopter cost. Asset extraction, clearance compliance, easement integrity and vegetation management all come from the same classified cloud — geo- referenced, repeatable and audit-defensible.
Conductor sag, blowout and clearance derived from direct LiDAR returns on each phase. Span-by-span compliance against operating conditions rather than design-only assumptions.
Poles, towers, transformers, switchgear, isolators and structures extracted from the cloud and delivered as a GIS-ready register — with x/y/z, height and condition flags per asset.
Registered easement boundary overlaid against captured features. Structures, vegetation, stockpiles and ground modifications inside the easement called out by location, type and clearance breach.
Distance from every canopy point to every conductor computed automatically. Breaches flagged by location, severity and species — work-orderable straight from the dataset.
Inside the yard, point densities run thousands per square metre — enough for equipment inventory, busbar clearance, fence integrity and trip-hazard documentation in one capture.
Same flight, same control, year after year. Refresh cycles measured in months rather than years, at distribution-network budget rather than transmission-network budget.
Formatted for direct ingestion into PowerOn, ArcGIS, AutoCAD Map 3D, and the asset management systems network operations teams already rely on.
Ground, conductors (per phase), structures, vegetation and equipment classified and segregated. Span-keyed and chainage-keyed for direct lookup.
Poles, towers, transformers, switchgear, isolators with location, height, condition and identifier — ready for GIS upload.
Span-by-span breach report with severity ranking, location reference, dominant species and recommended work zone.
Registered easement boundary against captured features. Structure, vegetation and ground-mod breaches called out spatially.
Per-conductor 3D catenary with operating-condition envelopes (still, max-blowout, max-sag). Clearance distances to ground, structures and vegetation.
Dense yard capture with equipment positions, fence integrity, busbar layout and inventory ready for CAD or BIM workflows.
Confirm network extent, easement boundaries, asset categories of interest. CASA permits, landowner notifications and network operator coordination.
Drone flight along the corridor or yard, conductor-level density. Substation airspace coordinated with network operations and dispatch.
Conductor classification (per phase), asset extraction, vegetation clearance compute, easement compliance audit. Independent QA against control checks.
GIS-ready outputs uploaded against asset management system. Breach reports landed with vegetation contractor. Re-fly cadence set per compliance cycle.
We work with distribution and transmission operators across Australia's NEM and SWIS jurisdictions. Tell us the network extent, the compliance cycle and the asset management system you run — we'll scope a capture programme that keeps the dataset current.