LiDAR & Photogrammetry
High-accuracy LiDAR mapping for the Pacific Northwest & Mountain West
Confluent Drone Services deploys enterprise-grade LiDAR systems to capture dense, precisely georeferenced point clouds across terrain of any complexity — forested, agricultural, or industrial. From flight planning to final deliverable, we manage the full data acquisition and processing workflow.
Why drone LiDAR?
VS. TRADITIONAL GROUND METHODS
Cover hundreds of acres in a single flight
Ground-based data collection is labor-intensive, slow, and can take days or weeks on complex terrain. A single drone LiDAR flight can cover thousands of acres with consistent point density across the entire area — at a fraction of the mobilization cost and without putting crews in difficult or hazardous terrain.
VS. DRONE PHOTOGRAMMETRY / RGB
True bare-earth data, even under dense canopy
Photogrammetry captures what the camera sees — which means vegetation stops it cold. LiDAR pulses penetrate canopy gaps to reach the ground surface beneath, returning multiple echo values per pulse. For forested terrain, floodplain modeling, or any project where bare-earth elevation matters, LiDAR is the only reliable option.
LARGE ACREAGE EFFICIENCY
Up to 100 km² of coverage per day
The M400 + L3 system covers up to 10 km² per flight and up to 100 km² per day. For large ranch, utility corridor, or land management projects where mobilization cost is a major driver, this efficiency makes drone LiDAR economically competitive with — and often superior to — manned aircraft alternatives.
We process raw LiDAR data into the formats your team requires. Standard deliverables include classified point clouds (LAS/LAZ), digital elevation models (DEM), digital surface models (DSM), contour lines (DXF/SHP), and georeferenced orthomosaic imagery. All data is delivered in your preferred coordinate system and can be formatted for direct import into Civil 3D, ArcGIS, QGIS, and other common engineering and design platforms.
Accuracy & Quality
Our LiDAR workflow achieves vertical accuracy of ±2–4 cm RMSE with OPUS post-processed ground control — consistently within ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards Class 1 for the projects we deliver.
Every project includes independently collected checkpoints on stable hard surfaces, processed separately from ground control and never used in the trajectory solution. Accuracy is documented in a formal report with per-point residuals, horizontal and vertical RMSE, and coordinate system metadata — ready for engineer or PLS review.
We use PPK post-processing for the drone trajectory, not live RTK, which means brief signal dropouts during flight don't compromise position accuracy. Ground control is established via 4-hour minimum base occupations submitted to OPUS for post-processed coordinates.