HERO IMAGE — DRONE OVER TERRAIN

Replace with real capture

Aerial Photogrammetry LiDAR-Grade Processing

AutoTerra Pro Aero

UAV photogrammetry and LiDAR-grade spatial processing in a single environment. Drone imagery is triangulated, reconstructed into a dense point cloud, orthomosaic and DSM, then classified and taken straight into the same terrain, contour and volume engine used for LiDAR projects — one project, one interface, no export between separate tools.

Start Free Trial Request Demo Compare editions

Photogrammetry Reconstruction

From raw drone imagery to survey-grade point cloud, DSM & orthomosaic

The first phase turns raw drone imagery into georeferenced, deliverable-ready geospatial data using the same aerial-triangulation and multi-view-stereo pipeline found in dedicated photogrammetry software, built directly into AutoTerra Pro Aero.

Aerial triangulation (SfM) Multi-view stereo GCP georeferencing Orthomosaic DSM / DEM 3D textured mesh

Import from standard UAV/drone camera formats; organised by flight and mission

Automatic tie-point detection & self-calibrating camera model

GCP georeferencing for survey-grade accuracy, with residual reporting

Dense multi-view-stereo point cloud, orthomosaic and DSM/DEM generation

Textured 3D mesh output for BIM and engineering review

Triangulation viewport showing drone imagery reconstructed into a dense point cloud

AI-Powered Classification

One LiDAR-grade classification engine — even for drone data

The dense image point cloud is never exported anywhere — it loads straight into AutoTerra's LiDAR-grade classification engine and is processed with the same 3D brush, fence and automated routines used on airborne and mobile LiDAR data.

Ground Buildings Vegetation Structures / walls Noise / outliers Custom classes

Brush, fence & automated classification tools work on image-derived point clouds

Real-time visual feedback as points are classified in 3D

Class visibility toggle & section-view classification for structures and ground

AI/ML-powered noise removal and vegetation removal, tuned to the scene

Progressive-TIN bare-earth extraction — the same routine used across every AutoTerra point cloud source

Terrain & Ground Model

Automated bare-earth extraction and survey-grade terrain models

Once the ground surface is classified, it becomes a DTM like any other AutoTerra terrain model — feeding straight into the same surface, contour and slope tools used across the Pro Spatial engine. Nothing is re-imported.

Progressive-TIN Breaklines & boundaries Contour generation Slope / elevation bands Multi-surface comparison GeoTIFF DEM export

Configurable pipeline from noise removal through ground classification to bare-earth surface

TIN surface from classified ground points, with breakline and boundary control

Contour generation — interval, min length, area filter, annotation & colour

Slope analysis and elevation-band display at any resolution

Multi-surface comparison — colour-coded Z-deviation between two TINs for change detection

Sections & Volume Reporting

Cross-sections, cut/fill and signed-off volume reports

Compute volumes by whichever method fits the deliverable, and generate cut/fill visualisation, chainage tables and section reports directly from the same ground model — no export to a separate reporting tool.

4 volume methods Cross-sections Chainage tables Cut/fill colour mapping CAD / GIS export

DTM-to-DTM, elevation-reference, grid-based and elevation-band volume methods

Cross-sections at any chainage interval, with design template overlay

Cut/fill zone colour mapping with CAD/GIS export

Multi-surface section comparison with per-station cut/fill reporting

Formatted volume and section reports with chainage tables

Inside Pro Aero

Explore the interface

Every module shares a unified workspace — drone imagery, point cloud, terrain and volume reports, all without switching applications.

AutoTerra Pro Aero — Aerial Triangulation Viewport

VOLUME REPORT

Technical Reference

Technical specifications

Full capabilities of AutoTerra Pro Aero. For a cross-edition comparison, see the Products & Comparison page. Products & Comparison

Category	Specification
Image import	Standard UAV/drone camera formats; organised by flight and mission; onboard GNSS/IMU carried through to triangulation
Aerial triangulation	Structure-from-motion with automatic tie-point detection, self-calibrating camera model, and GCP georeferencing for survey-grade accuracy
Reconstruction outputs	Dense multi-view-stereo point cloud, orthomosaic/orthophoto, DSM/DEM, and textured 3D mesh
Classification engine	Full LiDAR-grade brush, fence and automated classification; real-time 3D feedback; section-view classification
Ground extraction	Progressive-TIN bare-earth routine with AI/ML-tuned noise and vegetation removal
Terrain outputs	TIN surface, contours, slope/elevation bands, multi-surface Z-deviation comparison, GeoTIFF DEM export
Section & volume tools	Cross-sections at any chainage with design overlay; four volume calculation methods; formatted cut/fill and chainage reports
Scripting / API	Processing parameters are fully configurable and auditable at every stage of the pipeline
Licensing & data	On-premise processing — data never leaves your infrastructure; licensed seat, cost doesn't scale with area; runs fully offline once installed

Image Count	Indicative Processing Time (Capture → DSM/Ortho)
Up to 200 images	~30–45 min on a 12 GB GPU · ~2–4 hrs on CPU only
200–500 images	~45 min–1.5 hrs on a 12 GB GPU · ~4–8 hrs on CPU only
500–1,000 images	~1.5–3 hrs on a 12 GB GPU · ~8–16 hrs on CPU only
1,000–5,000 images	~4–10 hrs on a 12 GB GPU · ~1–3 days on CPU only

Figures are rough estimates for typical consumer/nadir drone imagery at standard overlap; actual runtime varies with image resolution, overlap, CPU core count/generation, and storage speed. A dedicated NVIDIA (CUDA) GPU is recommended.

System requirements

Minimum

OSWindows 10 (64-bit, v21H2+)

CPUIntel Core i7 / AMD Ryzen 7 (8 cores)

RAM16 GB

GPUNVIDIA GTX 1060 (6 GB VRAM) — CPU-only supported, slower

STORAGESSD, 50 GB free

DISPLAY1920×1080, OpenGL 4.1+

NETWORKRequired for activation only — processing runs fully offline

Choose your starting point

All editions include the 3D viewer and basic annotation. Upgrade at any time — your project files and settings transfer seamlessly.

AutoTerra Pro

Full survey, DTM and CAD toolkit — no photogrammetry

Survey & CAD tools, COGO, DXF/DWG

DTM / DSM generation

UAV photogrammetry reconstruction

LiDAR-grade classification engine

Corridor & road module

Learn more