At Candrone Demo Day 2025, we had the pleasure of speaking with Daniella Szalkai from Underhill Geomatics, a surveyor who’s no stranger to flight time. Daniella flies drones almost daily, working on a wide range of LiDAR and photogrammetry mapping projects that are helping redefine how surveying work is done—particularly when safety, scale, and speed are top priorities.
Interviewed by Jacky Heshi, Daniella gave us a firsthand look at the practical ways drones are being used in the field, what gear her team relies on, and one of the coolest transmission line projects she’s flown to date.
Surveying from the Sky with the M300, L2, and P1
Underhill Geomatics uses a combination of DJI’s M300 and M3E series drones, along with high-performance payloads like the Zenmuse P1 for photogrammetry and the Zenmuse L2 for LiDAR scanning. These tools are key for completing topographic surveys, especially across large or inaccessible sites.
Here’s how a typical workflow looks:
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A field crew begins by laying ground control points (GCPs) and gathering utility data.
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Then Daniella takes to the sky, flying a drone over the area to collect high-resolution imagery or point clouds.
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Once back in the office, the team processes the data to extract the required features—often covering in hours what would take a traditional survey crew days or even weeks.
It’s a classic example of how drones improve efficiency and coverage in modern land surveying.
Flying Over the Unreachable: A Transmission Line Case Study
When asked about the most memorable project she’s worked on, Daniella didn’t hesitate.
Her team was tasked with surveying a set of transmission lines that spanned a river—but the opposite bank was completely inaccessible to the ground crew. Instead of attempting a risky crossing or abandoning the site, Daniella and her team deployed their drone from one side of the river and flew the entire survey remotely using multiple visual observers (VOs) to maintain line of sight.
Not only was the mission fun and logistically impressive—it was vital. The data collected was used to assess:
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Cable clearance to the ground
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Vegetation encroachment
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Right-of-way safety concerns
It’s a textbook example of how drones can safely access difficult terrain and deliver precise, actionable data.
The Future of Drones in Surveying
When asked where she sees drones going in the future of surveying, Daniella simply said:
“Where do I not see them going?”
As drone technology continues to evolve—improving in autonomy, sensor quality, and data integration—the possibilities for their use in surveying and geospatial sciences are limitless. From construction and infrastructure monitoring to environmental assessments and legal boundary work, drones are rapidly becoming essential tools in the surveyor’s kit.
Looking for drone surveying solutions?
Contact our team today for a consultation!
