DJI - Matrice 350 RTK

M350/M400/ Matrice 4E are the ways to go in my eyes. Mavic 3E shortly behind them, most affordable but least robust platform.

I live in the UK, fly the DJI M350 fairly regularly for my employer which is in the marine civils sector. I kind of agree with the initial comments, whereby I have noticed small hydrographic survey companies (who already have that underlying geomatics knowledge, software and client base) have basically purchased the same kit in question and offer that service on the side. I also agree that any medium sized business would just buy the kit themselves due to the ease of use. Hell, most could probably get what they want by purchasing a 3E. I think the advantage that you would need to try and gain, is ACCURATE data that ties in with a datum, as this requires RTK. As the previous commenters suggest, this needs a slightly wider understanding and investment. Any man and his dog can buy a Mavic 3E, but where's the VRS RTK license? Are they gonna foot the couple grand for that license as well? Where's the GNSS kit to really tie things in? Where's the license for that? Or is it a base station? That's further investment and knowledge. Can't speak too much for PPK as have never used it. So this is where you would have an edge, and thus offer services to people who need accurate data. Pre construction surveys etc. I'm just shooting the sh*t really but hope that helps! P.S I don't know how clued up you are with the terms I have used but just in case they are new, Google any of them together with RTK and it should make sense.

Gotcha. I was responding to the 10-60km2 in the original post. For areas that are only 2km2, yes drone is very viable. Fixed wing like Wingtra or Quantum are good options. Honestly for that size area, I’d seriously consider DJI M350 with the P1 camera, especially if getting data on the sides of buildings is important. I’d personally stay away from eBee as they are older, sub par in terms of sensors/cameras, and just kind of a PITA to work with.

If the constraint is speed + precision, I don't think photogrammetry is the best way to go. From a distance it looks like a good idea, but don't forget that going from photogrammetry to geospatial data requires a lot of processing, which will take a long time if we're talking about a volume of 20km of road. Furthermore, no, precision is achievable with a good drone like the M3E M4E M350..., but to ensure/justify precision you'll need to set up GCP (i.e. place targets on the ground that you'll survey using GPS) before the flight. So in the end I'm not really convinced that the time saving is there. For trees, yes, it's a problem, but if the roads are of normal width, a drone flying at 10/15m to stay under the canopy will easily be able to take the full-width road. If your markets are large and mainly road-based, consider the option of vehicle-mounted lidar, or vehicle-mounted slam. You'll get speed, live point clouds and precision. But it's expensive.

If most of your projects will be 300 acres or smaller, I would recommend a DJI M300 or DJI M350. If you're getting into 300+ acres, I'd look into Wingtra. Happy Flying.

we just got a Matrice 350 with an L2 sensor. its pretty sick