Virtual Surveyor Adds Planimetric Survey Functionality to Latest Release of Smart Drone Surveying Software

In addition to multiple performance modifications, Virtual Surveyor version 9.5 now enables users to quickly, easily, and accurately survey 2D features from drone orthophotos and add them to the 3D topographic model generated from the same data set.

“The new planimetric tools significantly improve the speed with which users can survey the features that reside on top of the topography,” said Tom Op ‘t Eyndt, Virtual Surveyor CEO. “These include features that truly exist in 2D on the terrain, as well as 3D objects that can be represented in 2D for the purposes of the survey.”

True 2D features, for example, include the paint striping that delineates parking lot spaces and road lanes. Other objects that exist in 3D on the ground but can be surveyed in two dimensions for many applications are building footprints and tree canopies. The addition of these features brings a new level of efficiency to the drone surveying process in Virtual Surveyor.

Virtual Surveyor provides users an end-to-end workflow to conduct 3D surveys from drone imagery. The integrated Terrain Creator app photogrammetrically processes drone photos to build survey-grade digital surface models (DSMs) and orthomosaics. These transfer seamlessly to the traditional Virtual Surveyor app where users perform the real survey work – generating CAD models, creating cut-and-fill maps, calculating soil volumes, and deriving other 3D topographic information.