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Topographic survey data has become a critical input across construction, civil engineering, and land management projects. A single UAV topographic survey can produce a structured suite of georeferenced outputs, including terrain models, surface models, contour data, and orthophotos, delivered in formats compatible with standard CAD and GIS workflows. However, the value of this information is…

When conducting UAV inspections of large or complex assets, data capture represents only the initial stage of the survey process. The primary technical challenge lies in ensuring that the resulting dataset is structured in a way that enables efficient interpretation, spatial traceability, and reliable use by surveyors, engineers, and asset managers. At scale, this becomes…

Multispectral UAV crop monitoring is increasingly used across the UK to assess early-stage cereal performance and identify variability before it becomes visible. Spring is a critical period in the UK arable calendar. Fields that remain largely dormant through winter rapidly transition into active production as spring cereals are drilled and early growth begins. For crops…

Drone survey data management is a critical step in turning raw aerial imagery into reliable spatial information. When most people think about drone surveying, they focus on the aircraft: high-performance UAVs capturing imagery above sites and complex infrastructure. In reality, data capture is only the first step. Without a structured process for handling the large…

In our previous R&D post, we explored the design choices behind our move into custom-build FPV drones and UAV media capture, covering the frame architecture, component selection, and rationale for each decision. This second phase focuses on the practical implementation of those plans. The parts are in, soldering is complete, and our training FPV drone…

Drone cinematography has progressed from a cinematic novelty into a core component of professional aerial media production. Once limited to high-budget film crews and complex logistics, aerial imaging is now scalable, precise, and widely integrated into marketing, architectural visualisation, and creative workflows across the UK. At Survey Air, our UAV media operations combine precision-engineered platforms,…

Following our initial Mappleton coastal erosion survey in late 2024, Survey Air returned in 2025 to continue monitoring one of the UK’s most rapidly changing coastlines. The soft glacial till cliffs of East Riding of Yorkshire are highly susceptible to wave action and storm events, resulting in annual land loss measured in metres. Repeat monitoring…

In recent years, drone technology has rapidly advanced, enabling longer flight times, smarter sensors, and safer aircraft that are able to detect and avoid with increasing reliability. Unfortunately, despite these changes, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) drone regulations have struggled to keep pace. Until recently, most pilots have had to fly missions in strict accordance…

The Future of Scan-to-BIM in the UK Scan-to-BIM is the first step in many BIM workflows, where physical environments are captured using advanced LiDAR technologies and converted into spatially accurate, data-rich models. UAV, terrestrial, and handheld LiDAR sensors produce complementary datasets that are merged into unified point clouds before being modelled within BIM software. This…

At Survey Air, we are constantly looking to push ourselves with how we capture and deliver drone data. Our latest venture takes us into the world of FPV (First Person View) quadcopters, agile UAV’s capable of capturing footage that more traditional multirotor simply can’t replicate. We’ve set ourselves the challenge of designing and building two…