survey mapping

Survey buyers are professional buyers and they check the accuracy claim before anything else, so every platform here states the horizontal root-mean-square error rather than a marketing phrase like "survey grade". The distinction between a consumer GNSS and an RTK-fixed receiver is a factor of a hundred in absolute error and it determines whether the output can be used for cadastral purposes or only for visual reference. Payload selection matters as much as the airframe: a mapping aircraft carrying a 20-megapixel RGB camera produces a 3-centimetre ground sample distance at 120 metres, while the same aircraft with a 45-megapixel sensor produces 1.3 centimetres. Cloud coverage limits are worth checking against your actual survey area, because a flight flown at 120 metres through 8/8 cloud produces unusable imagery that cannot be fixed in post-processing.