Lidar capture / Construction cut and fill
Construction cut and fill in Edmonton and Alberta
Earthworks are paid by the cubic metre. One capture measures the whole site and gives contractor and owner the same numbers.
Why it matters
Disputes over earthwork quantities cost time and money. Measuring the full surface, rather than a set of shots walked across it, settles the quantity before it becomes an argument.
We capture lidar and a high resolution orthomosaic together, so volumes, progress imagery and the as built come from one flight. Our long range lidar payload is rated by its manufacturer at 3 cm vertical and 4 cm horizontal accuracy (RMSE) at 120 m.
What you get
- Cut and fill volumes against the design surface or the previous capture
- Weekly or monthly progress surfaces for billing
- Design against as built maps with off grade areas flagged
- Stockpile and borrow pit volumes
- Road grade, cross fall and ditch profiles
- Files for Civil 3D, Trimble Business Center and machine control
Who uses it
General contractors, earthworks and paving contractors, developers, owners' engineers and municipalities tracking capital projects.
Capture reference
- Outputs
- Volumes, as built, heat map
- Cadence
- Weekly or monthly
- Rated accuracy
- 3 cm vertical at 120 m
- Files
- Civil 3D, TBC, machine control
- Captured with
- Lidar plus RGB, one flight
- Coverage
- AB base, BC and SK direct
Example scenario
Illustrative, to show the workflowA developer in southwest Edmonton is grading a 40 ha subdivision stage and wants independent checks on contractor quantities.
- The bare site is flown before stripping to set original ground.
- The site is flown monthly through stripping, cut and fill and final grade.
- Each month's surface is compared to original ground and to the grading design.
- The developer approves progress payments against measured quantities.
Deliverables in this scenario: Monthly volume reports, design comparison maps, orthomosaics, final as built surface.
Have a site like this? Send the location and what your team needs out the other end, and a scoped quote comes back, usually within one business day, with the positioning method and delivery window stated.
Get a quote for this workCommon questions
Answered plainlyHow accurate are drone cut and fill volumes?
Our long range lidar payload is rated by its manufacturer at 3 cm vertical and 4 cm horizontal accuracy (RMSE) at 120 m, and the volume rests on millions of measured points across the whole site.
Is this a legal boundary record?
Legal and property work in Alberta is done by Alberta Land Surveyors. We provide engineering grade topographic data and work alongside your surveyor.
What file formats do you deliver?
Point clouds in LAS or LAZ, plus surfaces and drawings for Civil 3D, Trimble Business Center and machine control.
Related lidar work
All lidar work
Gravel pits and stockpiles
Stockpiles, pit faces, slopes, stripped soil and disturbed area measured in one visit, so the year end inventory, the activities plan update and the reclamation design all start from the same surface.
Flood and drainage
Fresh bare earth terrain at centimetre accuracy, captured under the trees and brush along creeks, for flood studies, stormwater design, culvert sizing and county drainage.