Question 1

Do I need to know which file type or scanner to ask for?

Accepted Answer

No. Describe the areas to be mapped and how the information will be used. We will confirm the appropriate capture method and project files with you.

Question 2

Can you map inside and outside a property?

Accepted Answer

Yes, where the areas are safe and accessible. Handheld and backpack equipment can capture connected indoor and outdoor spaces during the same visit. Locked, unsafe or inaccessible areas must be excluded or arranged in advance.

Question 3

Is this the same as a legal boundary survey?

Accepted Answer

No. Ground-based LiDAR mapping does not establish cadastral or legal property boundaries. Tell us if your project requires boundary definition or formal survey certification so it can be scoped separately.

Question 4

Can LiDAR map trees and vegetation?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It can record visible trees, canopy form and vegetated areas from accessible ground positions. This is spatial mapping, not an arborist, ecological or vegetation-health assessment.

Question 5

What should I include in my first enquiry?

Accepted Answer

Include the suburb or location, the areas to be mapped, what you are planning and any access restrictions. Add plans, photos or a consultant's file requirements if you have them.

Question 6

What is LiDAR?

Accepted Answer

LiDAR — Light Detection And Ranging — is an active sensor that fires laser pulses at a surface and measures how long each pulse takes to return. Combined with the sensor's exact position and orientation at the instant of emission, each return becomes a 3D coordinate in real-world space. Repeated at hundreds of thousands of pulses per second from a drone, the result is a dense, geo-referenced point cloud of the entire site captured in a single flight.

Question 7

How does drone LiDAR work?

Accepted Answer

A drone-mounted LiDAR sensor fires hundreds of thousands of laser pulses per second toward the ground. For each pulse, it measures the time-of-flight to the surface and back, derives the range, and combines that with the drone's GNSS + IMU-tracked position to produce a geo-referenced 3D point. After the flight, the trajectory is post-processed against a base station (PPK) to centimetre accuracy and the points are reconstructed against the corrected trajectory. The output is a classified point cloud you can derive every other deliverable from.

Question 8

What's the difference between a DTM and a DSM?

Accepted Answer

A DSM — Digital Surface Model — is the surface of everything-above-ground: canopy tops, building roofs, fence lines, parapets. A DTM — Digital Terrain Model — is the bare-earth surface beneath all of that, recovered from ground-classified LiDAR returns. Civil design, hydrology, drainage and earthworks all work from a DTM. DSMs are useful in their own right for vegetation, shadow and visualisation work — and the DSM minus DTM is the canopy-height model.

Question 9

What is a point cloud?

Accepted Answer

A point cloud is the raw output of a LiDAR capture — millions of geo-referenced 3D points, each representing one laser return from a real-world surface. Each point has X, Y, Z coordinates and additional attributes like intensity, return number, GPS time and (after processing) a classification (ground, vegetation, structure, water, noise). Every other deliverable — DTMs, contours, CAD linework, BIM, sections — is derived from the classified point cloud.

Question 10

What does "multi-return" mean?

Accepted Answer

A single laser pulse can return multiple times — first from a leaf on the canopy, then from a branch, and finally from the ground beneath. Modern LiDAR sensors record several discrete returns per pulse (typically 5–8). This is what lets multi-return LiDAR recover ground surface under vegetation: even though no individual pulse may reach the ground in dense canopy, enough do across the whole flight that classification can isolate a continuous bare-earth surface.

Question 11

How accurate is drone LiDAR?

Accepted Answer

Typical engineering-grade drone LiDAR achieves ±15–30 mm vertical accuracy on bare surfaces, validated to AHD control. Horizontal accuracy is similar. Achieving this routinely requires a calibrated sensor, RTK/PPK trajectory correction against a logged base station, well-placed ground control points, and an independent QA pass against check-points. Looser planning-grade accuracy (±50–150 mm) is achievable at lower point density and reduced control rigour, and is appropriate for many visualisation and feasibility applications.

Question 12

What is RTK vs PPK?

Accepted Answer

RTK — Real-Time Kinematic — uses a radio link from a base station to deliver correction data to the drone during flight. The pilot sees an accurate position live. PPK — Post-Processed Kinematic — logs raw GNSS data on both base and drone, then computes the corrected trajectory after landing. PPK is more accurate and far more reliable: when the RTK radio link drops mid-flight (and eventually it always does), only PPK can recover capture accuracy from the logged data. Every engineering-grade capture we run is processed PPK.

Question 13

Do I need ground control?

Accepted Answer

For engineering-grade work, yes. Ground control — surveyed marks tied to AHD/MGA — provides the absolute reference the captured cloud is validated against. Without it, the cloud is internally consistent but has no defensible tie to any external datum. If the site doesn't have suitable existing control, we can establish it as part of the capture or coordinate with a licensed surveyor. For planning-grade outputs that don't need to integrate with engineering drawings or council datasets, GNSS-only capture is sometimes sufficient.

Question 14

What datum do you work in?

Accepted Answer

Australian standard: GDA2020 (horizontal) and AHD (vertical), with the appropriate MGA zone for the project location. We can also deliver into GDA94 if your design package is older and you need backward compatibility, or local project grids if the engineering drawings reference one. The control and processing pipeline supports any of these — the choice is driven by what the design / asset / council system expects.

Question 15

What are control checkpoints and why do they matter?

Accepted Answer

Control checkpoints are surveyed marks the LiDAR has captured but that were NOT used to constrain the processing — they're independent of the calibration. After processing, we compute the residual between each checkpoint's surveyed height and the height the cloud reports at the same XY. The distribution of residuals — typically reported as RMSE — is the audit-defensible measure of capture accuracy. Every project we run ships with a checkpoint residuals report.

Question 16

How long does a capture take?

Accepted Answer

Site-dependent. A 5 ha lot is typically captured in 30–60 minutes of airtime including setup. A 50 ha civil site takes 2–3 hours. A 500 ha mine or corridor can be done in a single mobilisation across multiple flights in 4–8 hours, weather permitting. Add 1–3 hours on site for ground control verification, pre-flight checks and base station setup. The capture is rarely the bottleneck — processing and QA take longer.

Question 17

Can you fly in rain or low light?

Accepted Answer

LiDAR is an active sensor — it works fine in low light, shadow and at night. Light rain is OK but not ideal: water on the sensor can introduce noise and operating drones in rain has airworthiness implications. We don't fly in heavy rain, fog (sensor returns from water droplets), high wind (above the drone's safe envelope) or thunderstorms. Most Australian projects can be captured within their planned window — we monitor forecast and adjust as needed.

Question 18

What's the maximum site size you can capture in one flight?

Accepted Answer

Per battery cycle, around 80–150 hectares depending on sensor, terrain and flight altitude. Larger sites get multiple flights stitched together, which is routine — strip alignment in processing handles overlap geometrically. Practical daily throughput on a single mobilisation is 300–500 ha for area work or 30 km for linear corridors. Very large sites (>1000 ha) may need multi-day mobilisation, but each day's flight goes against the same control so the outputs stitch consistently.

Question 19

How is the data delivered?

Accepted Answer

Typically via secure SFTP or a cloud share (Google Cloud Storage, OneDrive, Dropbox Business — whichever your team prefers). Smaller deliverables can go via direct download links. Larger packages (tens of GB of point cloud) ship on physical NVMe media on request. Every delivery includes the data, a README, deliverable index, QA pack and processing metadata. Raw trajectory and base station logs are archived on our side for at least 12 months so re-processing against new requirements never needs a re-fly.

Question 20

Can you fly over a live operational site?

Accepted Answer

Yes, often. Mine sites with active hauling, rail corridors during operations, road corridors with traffic, substations with energised equipment — all routinely captured without interruption. Drone airspace is segregated from ground operations by altitude. We coordinate with the site SSE, OCC or equivalent, file CASA notifications, and operate within agreed exclusion zones. The capture happens above operations, no equipment shutdown required in most cases.

Question 21

What outputs do I receive?

Accepted Answer

Depends on what you've scoped. Standard outputs include the classified point cloud (LAS 1.4), bare-earth DTM (GeoTIFF + LandXML), survey-grade contours (DWG), QA report (PDF) and deliverable index. Additional outputs scope-dependent: DSM, orthomosaic, CAD linework, cross sections, cut/fill volumes, BIM models, change detection rasters, GIS feature layers. Each project's deliverable bundle is locked in scoping so there are no surprises at handover.

Question 22

What software can use point clouds?

Accepted Answer

Effectively all professional engineering, surveying and GIS tools accept LAS or LAZ point clouds directly: Civil 3D, 12d, Bentley OpenRoads, MicroStation, AutoCAD Map 3D, ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, Maptek Vulcan, Surpac, Micromine, Leapfrog, CloudCompare, Recap. Derived deliverables (DTM as GeoTIFF/LandXML, contours as DWG, etc.) ingest natively into the same toolset. The format and packaging is scoped to match your team's workflow so re-formatting isn't your team's problem.

Question 23

Can you deliver BIM / Revit outputs?

Accepted Answer

Yes. For asset and structure inspection projects, we classify the captured cloud into BIM-shaped objects (members, equipment, fixtures) and deliver as IFC for direct ingestion into Revit, Tekla Structures or Navisworks. Full BIM authoring is a follow-on scope rather than included by default — typically scoped alongside a digital-twin integration. For projects where a BIM-ready cloud is sufficient, the deliverable is the classified LAS plus a member catalogue / GIS layer.

Question 24

Can you generate contours at any interval?

Accepted Answer

Yes — from 0.1 m up. The captured DTM supports any contour interval you nominate, smoothed to a configurable tolerance, with index contours labelled at major intervals. Default for civil work is 0.25 m at 1 m index; default for property feasibility is 0.5 m at 2 m index. Contours can be delivered as DWG, DXF, 12da, SHP or GeoJSON to suit downstream consumption.

Question 25

Will the deliverables open in Civil 3D / 12d?

Accepted Answer

Yes — that's the standard workflow. DTMs as LandXML or 12da, contours and linework as DWG, cross sections as DWG or 12da, classified clouds as LAS 1.4 with LAZ compression. We test deliverable bundles in Civil 3D and 12d as part of QA before release. If your project uses Bentley OpenRoads, MicroStation or another platform, that's the same conversation in scoping.

Question 26

How much does drone LiDAR survey cost?

Accepted Answer

Indicatively: small/simple captures start around $3,500–$7,500 AUD; standard projects sit in the $7,500–$18,000 range; complex multi-deliverable projects are typically $18,000–$45,000; specialist or very large captures can run $45,000+. The 7-question quote estimator gives a tier-based band tailored to your project in about 2 minutes. Fixed quotes follow a 15-minute scoping conversation that confirms site access, control strategy and deliverable mix.

Question 27

What's a typical turnaround time?

Accepted Answer

From the day of capture to deliverable release: 3–7 days for small/simple projects; 5–12 days for standard; 10–21 days for complex; 14–35 days for specialist. The timeline is dominated by processing and QA, not capture. Urgent turnarounds inside these bands are routinely possible with pre-arranged scheduling — we reserve capture and processing capacity for nominated urgent projects.

Question 28

What's included in the standard price?

Accepted Answer

Capture, trajectory correction, point classification, surface modelling, contour generation and the scoped deliverable bundle. Plus: QA report with control checkpoint residuals, deliverable index, capture metadata, README, and 12+ months of raw-data archive for re-processing. Travel and accommodation for remote sites, new permanent ground control, plant or traffic management, and re-fly cycles outside scope are itemised separately and transparent on the quote.

Question 29

Are repeat-cycle captures cheaper?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Monthly reconciliation captures of mine sites, quarterly clearance audits of utility networks, annual rehabilitation captures of environmental sites — all scoped as programmes with a fixed per-capture rate well below one-off pricing. The first capture establishes baseline (control, flight plan, processing pipeline); subsequent captures re-use all of it. Programmes are quoted with a 12–36 month commitment depending on cadence.

Question 30

How do you handle remote-site travel?

Accepted Answer

Itemised at cost — flights, vehicle hire, accommodation, per-diems. No margin loaded on top. Most Australian regions are accessible inside a 1–2 day mobilisation window. Some Pilbara, NT and offshore sites benefit from coordinated trips combining multiple captures into a single mobilisation. We'll flag this at scoping if there's an opportunity to share travel cost with another project.

Question 31

Can LiDAR replace traditional ground survey?

Accepted Answer

For most engineering capture: yes, with the same or better accuracy and far higher coverage. For some applications: no — cadastral, boundary, set-out, legal and as-built validation of services often need a licensed surveyor's signature and ground-truth detail survey that LiDAR doesn't replace. The realistic answer is hybrid: drone LiDAR for the bulk of capture; ground survey for control and the cadastral / detail piece. The combination delivers more, faster, for less than either alone on most projects.

Question 32

LiDAR vs photogrammetry — when to use which?

Accepted Answer

Photogrammetry: bare or sparsely vegetated sites, planning-grade accuracy, when photoreal texture matters, when cost is the dominant constraint. LiDAR: any site with significant vegetation, any engineering-accuracy work (±20 mm class), corridor and powerline work, anywhere bare-earth is required. Hybrid LiDAR + camera: when both engineering geometry AND photoreal context are needed — common on civil and property projects. The decision tool handles this in 6 questions.

Question 33

Why not helicopter LiDAR?

Accepted Answer

For very large transmission networks (1000s of km) and regional mapping, helicopter LiDAR is still the right tool. For everything smaller — distribution networks, road and rail corridors, mine sites, municipal flood studies — drone LiDAR delivers comparable point density and accuracy at a fraction of the mobilisation cost, with much shorter turnaround. The crossover is project-dependent; happy to scope honestly if helicopter would actually be more economical.

Question 34

Is mobile mapping (vehicle-mounted LiDAR) the same?

Accepted Answer

Different tool, complementary application. Mobile mapping captures the corridor from a vehicle — dense capture along the road but limited vertical extent and no coverage of land beyond the road verge. Drone LiDAR captures from above with full vertical coverage and a 100–200 m strip width. For pavement surveys mobile is excellent; for corridor design, drainage, vegetation and structure clearance, drone capture is broader and more flexible.

Question 35

Can LiDAR see through trees?

Accepted Answer

Light doesn't pass through leaves — but a dense laser scan doesn't need every pulse to reach the ground, it just needs enough of them to. Multi-return LiDAR captures the canopy top, intermediate returns from branches, and ground returns from pulses that punch through gaps. Ground-classification algorithms then isolate the bare-earth surface beneath the canopy. The denser the canopy, the higher the capture point density needs to be — but most Australian vegetation can be captured to engineering-grade DTM accuracy.

Question 36

Will it work over water?

Accepted Answer

Water is challenging for near-infrared LiDAR (the standard for topographic capture) — most pulses reflect specularly or get absorbed, leaving sparse returns. Calm small water bodies typically register the surface; large open water tends to drop out of the cloud and gets manually masked. For water work specifically, bathymetric LiDAR (green wavelength) is the right sensor — that's a separate scope. For typical projects where water is incidental, the DTM gets manually edited to enforce water-surface continuity.

Question 37

What about heritage trees and sensitive vegetation?

Accepted Answer

Drone LiDAR captures every tree at canopy height, position, footprint and structural class — useful for arborist reports, retention strategies and planning approvals. We can pre-filter the deliverable to flag trees over any nominated height threshold or DBH proxy (canopy footprint as a stand-in). For ecologically-sensitive sites the entire capture happens from above with no ground disturbance, which is often the deciding factor for fauna-sensitive or heritage areas.

Question 38

What permits do you need?

Accepted Answer

Standard captures need a CASA ReOC-operator flight plan filed against the project area. Sites near controlled airspace require ATC coordination. Sites under 30 m AGL near people may need additional area approval. Rail and road corridor work needs network operator and road authority notifications. For populated areas, neighbour notification is best-practice. We handle all of this as part of pre-capture coordination — your team usually doesn't need to do anything beyond confirming site access.

Question 39

Are you CASA approved?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We operate under a CASA Remote Operator Certificate (ReOC). All pilots hold Remote Pilot Licences (RePL). Operations are conducted to standard CASA-138-compliant manuals with documented risk assessments per flight. Insurance, airworthiness records and operations manuals are available to clients on request — particularly relevant for projects on rail, energy or large-construction sites where contractor compliance documentation is required.

Question 40

Is the drone safe over populated areas?

Accepted Answer

Modern survey drones have multiple-rotor redundancy, return-to-home failsafes and operational envelopes that exclude flight over uninvolved people without specific approval. For projects near populated areas we operate under a CASA Operations Manual that documents site-specific risk controls — exclusion zones, observer placement, route planning around occupied buildings. Public-liability insurance covers all operations; full certificates available on request.

Question 41

What about privacy and data security?

Accepted Answer

LiDAR captures geometry, not imagery — there are no faces, registration plates or other personally-identifying details in the cloud. For projects that include orthomosaic capture, RGB imagery is captured but stored securely and not shared beyond the project team. Project data is held in encrypted-at-rest cloud storage on AU servers; access controls limit who can read each project's data; deliverable handover removes data from active storage after the agreed retention period (12 months default for re-processing archive).

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