Measure the change, not the impression
Banks retreat, bluffs slump, slopes move and vegetation returns, too slowly to notice between visits. Repeat flights over the same ground, to the same control, turn that into numbers for a report.
Change is the deliverable
Most environmental questions are not about what a site looks like today; they are about how much it moved, and since when. One flight cannot answer that. Two flights over the same extent, flown to the same ground control and processed the same way, can: the surfaces are subtracted, and what remains is a volume, an area and a rate.
Because the method is repeatable and the error is stated, the comparison holds up in a permit review. It also reaches places a ground crew cannot safely walk, like an undercut bank or a whole foreshore inside one tide window.
What environmental clients order
- Habitat and watercourse mapping: channel alignment, bank position and riparian extent in an orthomosaic and terrain model, delivered into your GIS.
- Erosion and site change: repeat capture over a fixed extent, differenced surface to surface, reported as dated volumes and areas.
- Spill and incident documentation: fast, georeferenced, time-stamped capture of the affected area while the evidence is still visible.
- Revegetation and disturbance extent: area disturbed and area recovering, for permit conditions written as areas or percentages.
- Terrain for drainage and hydrology: bare-earth surfaces under vegetation from LiDAR so flow paths come from the ground, not the canopy.
Baseline first, then repeat
Fly a controlled baseline
If a site may be monitored later, the most valuable flight is a properly controlled first one.
Fix the method
Same extent, same control, same processing, recorded on the project record so the next flight matches it.
Repeat on schedule or after events
Seasonal, annual, or after a storm or a spill.
Report the difference
Volumes, areas and rates between dates, with the accuracy stated from checkpoints. See accuracy.
Who relies on the record
Qualified environmental professional
- They need from you
- Defensible, dated data for their assessment.
- You need from them
- Their parameters and reporting format.
- On the DroneLink record
- We supply the measurement; the professional opinion stays theirs.
Regulator or permitting body
- They need from you
- A repeatable method and stated error.
- You need from them
- The permit conditions.
- On the DroneLink record
- The method and control are recorded with each capture.
Insurer
- They need from you
- The extent of an incident, recorded before it changes.
- You need from them
- Fast access to the site.
- On the DroneLink record
- Time-stamped capture delivered on one link. See insurers and adjusters.
Questions
How small a change can drone survey detect?
It depends on the control, the flight height and the surface. With good control, changes of a few centimetres over an area are measurable; the accuracy achieved is reported with each comparison.
Can you fly after a storm or a spill?
Yes, when it is safe and the agency in charge allows it. For incidents, capture early is what makes the record useful.
Do you write the environmental assessment?
No. We supply the measurements and imagery; the assessment belongs to a qualified professional.
Keep reading
Tell us about your Toronto site.
An address and what you need is enough to start. We reply with what it will take, who will fly it and when.