The questions we actually get asked.
Accuracy and how it is verified, deliverable formats, what drives cost, turnaround, weather, airspace, certification, and the two things we deliberately do not do. If your question is not here, ask it on the quote form.
Accuracy, verification and formats
How accurate is drone survey data?
It depends on the method and it is worth being precise. Photogrammetry on our workflow is specified by the payload manufacturer at 3cm horizontal and 5cm vertical absolute accuracy, measured on a mapping mission at 3cm ground sample distance with 75 per cent front and 55 per cent side image overlap. LiDAR is specified at 5cm horizontal and 4cm vertical at 150m flight height in laboratory conditions. Both figures assume good practice; we add ground control, withhold independent check points from the processing solution, and report the accuracy actually achieved on your site rather than the brochure figure.
Why do some operators claim 1cm accuracy?
Because that is the aircraft’s RTK positioning specification and it is easy to misquote. The DJI M350 RTK knows its own position to roughly 1cm horizontal and 1.5cm vertical when the RTK fix is good. That describes where the aircraft is, not how accurate your orthomosaic or point cloud is. Deliverable accuracy depends on the sensor, the flight height, the ground control and the processing. Anyone quoting the positioning figure as survey accuracy is either confused or hoping you are.
How is accuracy verified?
Ground control targets are set and observed across the site, and a separate set of check points is observed and then deliberately withheld from the processing solution. Because the software never saw them, comparing the finished surface against them is an independent test rather than a self-assessment. The residuals go in the delivery note. A survey without withheld check points has an asserted accuracy, not a verified one.
What file formats do you deliver?
Point clouds as LAS, LAZ, RCP or E57. Surfaces as GeoTIFF DTM and DSM, LandXML, DXF or TIN. Contours as DXF or SHP at your chosen interval. Imagery as GeoTIFF orthomosaic and JPEG. Meshes as OBJ, FBX or glTF. Vectors as SHP, GeoJSON or DWG. If your team works in a specific package, tell us and we deliver into it rather than handing you a conversion job.
What coordinate system do you work in?
By default NAD83(CSRS) UTM Zone 10N with CGVD2013 heights, which suits most work on Vancouver Island. We will deliver in a local project grid, a different UTM zone or an assumed datum on request. Tell us at the quote stage, because setting the datum correctly at the start is much less work than retro-fitting it afterwards.
What it costs and how long it takes
How long does delivery take?
Standard turnaround is 72 hours from the flight for survey work on sites up to roughly 40 hectares for LiDAR or 100 hectares for photogrammetry. Inspection sets are 48 to 72 hours. Video is 5 to 7 days. Larger areas, heavy canopy classification, manual breaklines and tight datum requirements add time. If you have a deadline, say so at the quote stage and we will confirm whether it is achievable before you commit rather than after.
What does it cost?
We quote per job rather than publishing a rate card, because the same aircraft over the same site can be a two-hour attendance or a three-day programme depending on the accuracy required, the control network, the processing and the deliverables. What drives cost, roughly in order: mobilisation distance, area, required accuracy, whether ground control is needed, whether LiDAR is needed, and how much manual desk work the deliverables require. Give us the site and the purpose and you will have a number quickly.
Is there a minimum charge?
Yes, effectively a half-day attendance, because mobilising a certified crew, obtaining airspace authorisation and setting control has a fixed cost regardless of how small the site is. On very small jobs we will tell you honestly if the economics do not work, and if you have several small sites in one area, combining them into one attendance is substantially cheaper than separate visits.
Do you need to visit before quoting?
Usually not. Location, approximate area, what the data is for and your timeline are normally enough. Where terrain, access or airspace look complicated we may ask two or three follow-up questions, or occasionally suggest a short site visit — but the default is a quote from a description.
What happens if the weather cancels a flight?
We reschedule at no charge. Wind and visibility are the limits on this coast rather than temperature, and we will not fly outside them because a survey flown in marginal conditions produces marginal data. On scheduled monitoring programmes we hold a fallback date from the outset.
What are the seasonal limits on Vancouver Island?
We fly year round. Winter brings shorter daylight and more weather days but produces excellent conditions for thermal envelope surveys, which need a temperature difference between inside and out. Leaf-off improves LiDAR canopy penetration where there is a deciduous component. Summer sun creates harsh shadows and haze; overcast is usually better for survey imagery. Wind off the strait is the year-round constraint.
Airspace, certification and what we do not do
Do you handle airspace permissions?
Yes, and it is part of the job rather than an extra. Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox all operate control zones covering commercially active ground, and Victoria and Nanaimo harbours carry float plane traffic. Flight in any of it requires Transport Canada Advanced Operations certification plus a NAV CANADA authorisation. We hold the certification and obtain the authorisation. Near CFB Comox the lead time can be longer, so tell us early.
What certification and insurance do you carry?
A Transport Canada RPAS Advanced Operations certificate with licensed pilots and current flight reviews, and $5M in aviation liability insurance with a certificate available for your project file. WorkSafeBC clearance letters are available on request. The airframe carries a certified parachute recovery system, which is what permits operations near people rather than merely making them feel safer.
Why does Advanced certification matter?
Because Basic Operations certification does not permit flight in controlled airspace or near people, and a great deal of commercially interesting ground on Vancouver Island is one, the other, or both. An operator holding only Basic certification either cannot fly your site or is flying it without the authorisation they need. If something then goes wrong, that becomes the site owner’s problem as much as the operator’s.
Is a drone survey a legal survey?
No. Our deliverables are provided for information and planning purposes only. Anything relating to a property boundary, a legal plan or a statutory right of way must be carried out by a British Columbia Land Surveyor. We work alongside BCLS firms regularly and frequently supply the terrain data they build on, but we do not and cannot substitute for them.
Do you provide condition assessments?
No. Condition assessment, structural evaluation and geotechnical opinion are reserved practice for professional engineers in British Columbia. What we deliver is located, dated evidence — high-resolution imagery, thermal data, measured surfaces — built to be interpreted by your engineer. A significant share of our inspection work is commissioned by engineering firms for exactly that reason.
Practicalities
What do you need from us before the flight?
Site access sufficient to set ground control and establish a safe launch and recovery area with visual line of sight; a site contact and any safety orientation requirement; the coordinate system and datum your project uses; and the deliverable formats your software expects. If there are hazards, restricted areas or other aviation activity on site, tell us in advance rather than on arrival.
Can you process data we captured ourselves?
Yes, and it is one of the fastest things we do because there is no mobilisation, no weather risk and no airspace step. Send a sample of the imagery or point cloud plus the coordinate system and any control you observed, and we will tell you what can be built from it before you commit — including the case where the honest answer is that the capture will not support the deliverable you want.
Who owns the data?
You do. Deliverables are yours to use in design, reporting, claims, marketing and litigation without further permission or licence fee. We ask before using any project imagery in our own portfolio, and a refusal is not a problem.
Do you work as a subcontractor?
Frequently. Engineering practices, survey firms, environmental consultants and visualisation studios engage us for the capture and processing while retaining the professional determinations that require their seal. We are comfortable being invisible on a project and will work under your branding and your quality documentation where that is what suits.
Tell us about the site
Location, rough area, what the data is for and your timeline. That is usually enough to quote without a site visit, and we reply within one business day.
Two hard limits, stated in one place: we do not provide legal or boundary surveys, which is BCLS practice, and we do not provide condition assessments or geotechnical opinions, which is EGBC practice. We supply the measurement those professionals work from.