A rundown of what we use, how it works and what it's capable of — indicative, not a spec list.
Three Phantom 4 RTK aircraft handle the mapping work. Each carries a 20-megapixel mechanical-shutter camera. A mechanical shutter avoids rolling-shutter distortion, which matters for photogrammetry.
Two Phantom 4 Pro aircraft cover general capture. A Phantom 4 RTK Multispectral handles vegetation health and species work.
We are available NZ-wide. We carry enough batteries to fly all day, and the vehicle has independent power, so multi-day campaigns in very remote areas are feasible. We can fly in or tramp all day to a launch point.
Remote-area work is the niche. Industrial sites are fine too. Saved flight plans mean the same ground is captured the same way next time.
We run two GNSS RTK base and rover setups. In flight, the drone takes RTK corrections from a correction service over the mobile network or from our own base on site, which gives strong relative accuracy. Ground control points tie everything into the New Zealand coordinate system: NZTM2000, with NZVD2016 heights.
Ground control points, or GCPs, are targets we lay out and survey with the rover before a flight. They show in the photos, so when the images are stitched together the map is pinned to measured eastings, northings and heights. A few more points held back as checks are how we verify the accuracy of each job, rather than assume it. Every job comes with a short accuracy report showing those points and how closely the map matches each one.
No mobile signal on site? We record the raw positions and correct them afterwards instead (post-processed kinematic, or PPK), which gives the same accuracy without a live connection.
When small changes matter, such as erosion along a coast or river bank, or any site we fly again and again to compare in software, we set up our own DJI D-RTK 2 base station right beside the job. A base a few metres away, rather than one many kilometres off at the correction service, gives the tightest and most repeatable results.
The rover also picks up as-built features — pipes, drains and services before a trench is backfilled. Files come in whatever format your GIS, CAD or engineering software needs. This is not cadastral surveying — Geomap NZ does not do boundary or cadastral work, and our data is for information, not for defining legal boundaries.
Our 3D models are built from drone photogrammetry. They come out georeferenced and exportable for CAD, GIS, design and planning. Detail is matched to the project.
A bespoke robotic LiDAR crawler is under construction to add LiDAR capture for a proper, complete result. Depending on what you need modelled, we may well be able to help now, so get in touch anyway.
Sam picking up a freshly planted native with the RTK rover
Malachi bringing the drone back in over the launch pad
The D-RTK 2 base station on the tripod, with Sam holding the drone’s controller and the rover pole. The base sends corrections straight to the drone by radio. We use it instead of network corrections when a job needs the tightest accuracy, and so repeat flights line up for measuring change over time.
Tell us what you are working with and we will talk you through the options.