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Calcimator

Construction Progress Drone Calculator

Plan drone-based construction site monitoring: flyover frequency, photo count, data storage, and cost comparison vs. traditional surveys.

Inputs

%
%

Results

Ground sample distance (cm/px)

6

Photos per flight6
Data per flight (GB)0.05
Flight time per sortie (min)0.8
Total flyovers26
Total data (GB)1.22
Total drone cost ($)$3,900.00
Traditional equivalent ($)$20,800.00
Cost savings ($)$16,900.00
Savings (%)81.3%
Footprint Area (m²)72,000.62
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter site area (acres), project duration (weeks), and planned flyovers per week.
  2. Set flight altitude (ft AGL), camera resolution (MP), and front and side overlap percentages.
  3. Review GSD (cm/px), photos per flight, data per flight (GB), and flight time per sortie.
  4. Use total flyovers and data volume to plan storage, processing, and reporting workflows.
  5. Higher overlap percentages improve 3D model quality but increase data volume and processing time.

How the result changes with Flight altitude (ft AGL)

Flight altitude (ft AGL)Ground sample distance (cm/px)
852.55
1735.19
2788.34
36510.95

What each input means

Site area (acres)
Total construction site area in acres.
Project duration (weeks)
Expected construction project length.
Flyovers per week
How often to fly progress documentation missions.
Flight altitude (ft AGL)
Altitude above ground level. Lower = better detail but more photos.
Camera resolution (MP)
Camera megapixels (e.g., DJI Mavic 3E = 20MP).
Front overlap (%)
Photo overlap along flight line. 75% typical for orthomosaics.
Side overlap (%)
Overlap between adjacent flight lines. 65% typical.
Pilot cost per flight ($)
Cost for drone pilot per flyover (labor + equipment).
Traditional survey cost ($)
Cost of a traditional ground-based progress survey for comparison.

What each result means

Ground sample distance (cm/px)
Resolution of each pixel on the ground — lower is better detail.
Photos per flight
Total images captured per mapping flight.
Data per flight (GB)
Storage needed per flyover.
Flight time per sortie (min)
Estimated flight duration for one complete site pass.
Total flyovers
Total number of mapping flights over the project.
Total data (GB)
Cumulative storage for all flyovers.
Total drone cost ($)
Total cost of all drone flyovers.
Traditional equivalent ($)
What it would cost using traditional survey methods.
Cost savings ($)
Money saved by using drone vs. traditional methods.
Savings (%)
Percentage savings compared to traditional surveys.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Site area (acres) = 5, Project duration (weeks) = 26, Flyovers per week = 1, Flight altitude (ft AGL) = 200 = 9 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Ground sample distance
    Ground sample distance = (flightAltitudeFt * 0.03) * sqrt(20 / cameraResolutionMP)
    6 = 6
  3. Calculate Photos per flight
    Photos per flight
    6 = 6
  4. Calculate Data per flight
    Data per flight = (totalPhotosPerFlight * avgPhotoSizeMB) / 1024
    0.05 = 0.05

Engine last updated .

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