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20 posts about explainer, written by people who have actually been down a mine with a scanner.
Most drone video is 10-bit HEVC (H.265), which won't play in browsers or many editors. Here's what the codec, bit depth, and resolution mean for sharing footage with clients.
June 19, 2026File storage keeps files. A spatial data delivery platform gives clients a way to actually see what they received. Here's the distinction — and why it matters for surveyors and drone operators.
May 19, 20263D Tiles 1.1 was ratified by the OGC in 2023. Implicit tiling, metadata, and multi-content tiles explained — and what surveyors actually need to care about.
May 18, 2026File storage keeps files. A site record builds a permanent, time-indexed history of a physical place — queryable by your team and, increasingly, by AI.
May 12, 2026DTM, DSM, and DEM are three types of elevation model used in surveying. Here is what each one represents, how they are created, and when to use each one.
April 9, 2026A Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) uses internal tiling and overviews for progressive loading via HTTP range requests. How to create, use, and share COGs online.
April 7, 2026IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the open standard for BIM data exchange. What surveyors need to know about IFC files and how to deliver them to clients.
April 2, 2026DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) is an open CAD file format from Autodesk. What is inside a DXF, how it is used in surveying, and how to view one online.
March 31, 2026An orthomosaic is a geometrically corrected aerial image mosaic used in surveying, construction, and agriculture. How they work and how to share them.
March 26, 2026A GeoTIFF is a TIFF image with embedded geospatial metadata. Here's how georeferencing works, what COGs are, and how to view and share GeoTIFFs online.
March 24, 2026LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) uses laser pulses to measure distances and create 3D point clouds. Here's how it works, the types, and what it's used for.
March 19, 2026A point cloud is a collection of millions of 3D coordinate points representing a physical space. What they are, how they're captured, and how to view.
March 17, 20263D Gaussian Splatting produces photorealistic scenes from drone or camera footage. How it works, how it compares to photogrammetry, and what it means.
March 10, 2025E57 is the ASTM standard format for terrestrial LiDAR point clouds and scanner imagery. What it contains, how to open it, and how to deliver it to clients.
February 25, 2025LAZ is the compressed version of LAS — the standard format for LiDAR and photogrammetry point clouds. What it contains, how to open it, and how to share it.
February 20, 2025Potree is the open-source WebGL viewer powering browser-based point cloud visualisation. How it works, what it displays, and how to use it for delivery.
February 10, 2025CesiumJS is the open-source WebGL engine behind browser-based 3D Tiles visualisation. How it works, who uses it, and how surveyors get their data into it.
October 10, 2024What 3D Tiles is, why it matters for surveyors, and how the OGC streaming standard handles massive point clouds and photogrammetry models in any browser.
July 22, 2024GIS stands for Geographic Information System — what does that mean for someone capturing LiDAR scans or drone imagery? A plain-English, grounded explanation.
June 10, 20243D mapping turns the physical world into digital datasets. How LiDAR, photogrammetry, and drone capture technologies work, and how the data gets used.
March 12, 2024