I’m a Site Engineer/Surveyor and I use a drone to map an area I’m surveying (I use an actual robotic Edm for the survey).
Though the level issue you have with the grass makes any elevation data defunct, it’s still quite useful as a surveyor to have an overhead map.
So maybe try selling the idea of just giving them a map of the area.
I find it useful as when I get back to the office I quite often waste a lot of time figuring out what all the crosses on the survey represent, even when they are on different layers.
And if the map can be locked to some GCPs (I personally use my stations I’ve set up) then with Magnet Topo that I use to draw the survey I can load the map as a background image.
Only started doing this recently and I’ve found it brilliant.
Robotic EDM = Total Station? Use GCPs and shoot in between the GCP’s, tie-ins and the tops/toes. Then you merge the topos and will still save over 50% of your time on 40-50 acres. I normally use my Hiper V’s, but I just received two Emlid Reach RS+ receivers that I bought for $1500 and will let you all know what I can make of it. Might be a game changer for those that can’t afford the big toys.
I just looked at those Emlid things.
I’d be interested to see how you get on with them.
Be great to have a cheaper alternative to the Hiper V. Which I can’t justify the cost of.
I’m on site today so we’ll have some kind of verdict if I can get the basic setup figure it out. It’s a lot different than topcon or tremble. I want to get the reach base and Rover connected and then I’ll try to connect the reach Rover to the Topcon base. Emlid has a really good forum just like this one as well.
Hi Michael.
How did get on out on site. Is it a viable option buying these things.
Oh and sorry to Wayne for hijacking his thread a bit.
Mark
I’ll start a new thread. @Christina, can you move our posts to a new thread? Like @Imeleon said, we kind of hijacked this thread.
Good morning all! I’m currently in the field testing the new Emlid Reach RS+ GPS receivers. Things are going well so far, but I will warn you of one thing that I learned up front is that these units do not collect data at the speed of a survey grade Trimble or topcon system. I had to capture the base point 20 minutes and I am sitting on each gcp for about 5 minutes to get decent accuracy. Mind you that this is a scenario of Unknown Origin set up, we’re usually I would have a known surveyed point and be entering in those coordinates manually so that the rest of the points I shoot with the RS+ are consistent with our existing control. so on the positive side is that they have a drone deploy export for the data. Basically you shoot it in and hit export and it creates a CSV with the headers and everything already formatted.
Turned out that with the difficult site I decided to test - RTK wasn’t an option so I ran logging for PPK. With what I ran into I really don’t know why I would use this gear in any other way than PPK unless I was on a fairly, clear flat site. Once I process I will answer some more of my questions, but I don’t think this is going to be a solution for me. I do see it as a solution for the majority of drone service providers out there that I have talked to, but as far as being able to relate a drone survey back to design documents on local surface elevations I don’t think this is going to do it… Unless I find a way. If anything, I found out what we get when we pay for a survey-grade Topcon setup. I calculate that in about three years taking into account my extra labor that the cost of the Topcon setup would be paid for. I’ve got 7 year old units that work just fine. All that being said, if all you need is relativity and ellipsoid or Geoid elevations than these are a great and easy to use solution.
Thanks for doing all this testing Michael.
I think you’ve answered my questions about whether this is suitable for me. It’s a shame but it doesn’t look like it is. I’ll just have to continue hiring the topcon for the odd occasion I do a survey that requires National grid stuff.
Well at least I can re-divert the money I had allocated back to the new Mavic 2 instead of the Reach 
If I had just the one Reach unit could I use it to establish stns for a survey do you think.
Just wondering if it’s worth getting one unit for the price just to get some coordinates on our national grid.
Forex and why they are great. It’s just the inability to use local surface benchmarks for vertical. You can shoot in wgs84 and use qgis to transform to whatever epsg projection you want. they are working on the ability to use other coordinate systems now that they are being used more often in the United States.
Hey guys, just wanted to say that it was no problem having this discussion on the previous thread, all knowledge regarding mapping, is educational to me and I appreciate any tips and advice that I can get.
Cheers
Wayne