Photogrammetry builds three-dimensional geometry from overlapping photographs rather than from laser returns. Where LiDAR gives you the most reliable measurement, photogrammetry gives you the most convincing picture — and on many projects you want both.
Why the Zenmuse P1
The P1 carries a 45-megapixel full-frame sensor with a mechanical global shutter. Two things follow from that, and both matter more than the headline megapixel count:
- Global shutter means the whole frame is exposed at the same instant. A rolling shutter smears geometry while the aircraft is moving, and that distortion propagates straight into the model. This is the single biggest quality difference between survey-grade and consumer aerial imagery.
- Full-frame sensor gathers far more light per pixel, so image quality holds up in the early morning and late afternoon light when shadows are long and flying conditions in Mauritius are best.
Flown with RTK positioning, each photograph is tagged with a centimetre-accurate camera position, which means fewer ground control points and a shorter day on site.
Where photogrammetry beats LiDAR
- Visual fidelity. A textured mesh shows surface condition, staining, signage, paint and material in a way a point cloud cannot. For stakeholder presentations and planning submissions, that is the difference between a document people engage with and one they skim.
- Orthomosaics. A single seamless, scaled, north-up image of the whole site is often the most useful deliverable a client receives, because everyone can read it without training or software.
- Cost on open ground. For bare terrain, roofs, stockpiles and hard surfaces with good texture, photogrammetry produces an excellent surface for less.
Where it does not
We will tell you when LiDAR is the better answer: under vegetation, on featureless or reflective surfaces, indoors, in poor light, or wherever the deliverable is a legal or contractual measurement. Photogrammetry infers geometry; LiDAR measures it.
Most of our aerial work now flies both sensors and fuses the results — laser returns for the geometry you will measure against, P1 imagery for the colour and the surfaces you will show people.