Watched my landscaper buddy use an AI drone to map a 5 acre lot in 20 minutes

I run my own landscaping company and I've been doing site surveys with a measuring wheel for like 8 years now. Takes forever, especially on bigger properties. Last week my friend Dave who does high end commercial work let me tag along on a job and he brought this little drone with AI mapping software. We showed up at this 5 acre lot near the river, he set the drone up, punched in some coordinates on his tablet, and it took off. In about 20 minutes it had flown the whole property, created a topo map with elevation changes, and even flagged where drainage was bad. I usually spend half a day walking a place that size and still miss stuff. Dave said the whole setup cost him around $1,500 but he's already billed it into three jobs. Has anyone else tried these AI mapping tools for smaller residential work or is it only worth it for the big commercial stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey164d agoMost Upvoted

Start with just one small residential property to get the hang of it before jumping into bigger jobs.

victorb174d ago

Man that drone’s already paid for itself three times over while my measuring wheel’s just collecting dust in the truck.