Case study / Pigeon Lake area / Mapping
A whole quarter section mapped to site a two acre pond
Water does not care which corner of the property you had in mind, so the capture covered all 160 acres rather than the intended pond site.
The challenge
A landowner planning a pond usually assumes this kind of capture is for engineering firms and large sites. The question he actually has is where water collects and where it drains, and that is decided by the contours across the whole parcel rather than by the corner he has in mind.
The site
A quarter section, 160 acres, in the Pigeon Lake area, captured in May. The pond itself is modest, in the range of two to three acres.
Equipment and method
Mapped capture across the full quarter section in May, when the ground is clear and vegetation is still low enough for the contours to read cleanly. Processed into an orthomosaic and a terrain model so the surface can be read as elevation rather than as a picture.
Airspace and safety
Rural airspace over private land, flown with the landowner present.
Deliverables
Orthomosaic, 2D and 3D outputs, a terrain model with contours, a PDF, and a DroneDeploy link so the landowner can open the site in a browser and pass it to whoever does the excavation.
Result
The landowner can see where water naturally collects across his land and site the pond on that rather than by eye, and he has something to hand to a contractor that is measurable. We provide the topography. Where a pond can go involves approvals and water regulation in Alberta, and that belongs to his engineer.
Project statistics
- Area captured
- Quarter section, 160 acres
- Pond size
- ~2 to 3 acres
- Captured
- May
- Outputs
- Orthomosaic, 2D and 3D
- Terrain
- Contoured surface model
- Client access
- Live DroneDeploy map link
- Also delivered
Named references are provided during scoping, so you can speak directly to a client who has run this kind of work.