Last time, we looked at drones, the core technology of the smart construction era and the starting point of all smart construction technologies. Today, we will look at construction drone data platforms, which help you easily use drones in construction.
With the arrival of the smart construction era, many construction companies both overseas and in Korea have tried to adopt drones, but it was not easy due to difficulties in rolling them out on site. Even sites that did adopt drones only used them to take still photos of panoramic views, so their utilization was very low. However, with the recent development of construction drone data platforms, the path to the smart construction era is gradually opening up.
A construction drone data platform is software that makes it easy to use drones on the construction site, and it is practically essential for properly utilizing drones on site.
The core of a construction drone data platform is the digitalization of the site. Once you simply upload the photos captured through autonomous drone flight to the internet, they are processed by a 3D Reconstruction algorithm and converted into usable data such as orthomosaic imagery, 3D point clouds, and 3D Mesh.
The main features you can use with the data generated in this way are as follows.
First, 3D surveying. Because the precise data generated by a construction drone data platform shares the same scale as the actual site, you can easily survey the site. With just a few clicks, you can measure length, area, and volume, or calculate earthwork volume.
Second, site monitoring. Using the digitalized data described above, you can monitor the site easily and quickly. In particular, you can track changes on site in a variety of forms depending on your purpose, such as comparison sliders, timelines, and time-lapses.
Third, efficient communication. Because most construction drone data platforms are cloud-based, various parties such as the head office, the site, and the client can monitor the site in real time, enabling quick and accurate communication.
In addition, all data generated by a construction drone data platform is in a widely compatible format, so it can also be used in various software such as AutoCAD and Civil3D.
The only platform in Korea that automates the entire process—from image capture through autonomous drone flight to analysis and utilization—is the Carta Platform, while Europe has Switzerland’s Pix4D Cloud and the US has Drone Deploy.
Next time, we will look at the characteristics of the leading drone platforms.
