Drone 3D mapping and inspection in Brisbane
Home turf: rapid mobilisation across greater Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich and Moreton Bay, with the airspace approvals city work requires.
Brisbane is controlled airspace. Plan for it
Hover provides drone mapping, surveying and inspection across greater Brisbane, including controlled-airspace assets in the CBD, from a CASA-certified operator based in the city. Most of the metro area, the CBD included, sits under controlled airspace around Brisbane Airport. Hover plans city jobs around that: approvals are arranged under CASA ReOC #9398 before mobilisation, with the paperwork handled and the lead time built into the program from the start.
The day-to-day work is the city’s hard-access assets: river bridges, towers, plant and live construction sites. Recent Brisbane jobs include a time-critical under-deck netting verification on the Story Bridge, flown around live footpath remediation and reviewed with the contractor over video as the flight progressed. Another was a live inspection of the Indooroopilly Rail Bridge inside a single weekend track possession, relaying HD capture to remediation supervisors in real time while the repair crews kept working. Both run through close visual inspection. Measured work on city sites runs through RTK topographic site surveys and stockpile and cut-and-fill volumetrics.
BRISBANE RIVER CORRIDORWhat drone 3D mapping gives a Brisbane project
Drone 3D mapping rebuilds a site or structure from overlapping, RTK-positioned photographs, and one capture yields a classified point cloud, a textured mesh, an orthomosaic and terrain surfaces. Absolute accuracy is up to 1 cm + 1 ppm horizontal and 1.5 cm + 1 ppm vertical, with up to 3–5 mm relative accuracy across a structure, and each model is tested against withheld check points before it is issued.
Across a whole site, the model becomes a drone topographic survey with contours and a DTM. On a bridge, tower or building, it becomes an LOD 400 digital twin your engineers can measure from. Stockpiles on the same site are measured through stockpile and volumetric surveys. The method is photogrammetry, not LiDAR, and the photogrammetry vs LiDAR comparison sets out where that matters.
| Point cloud | .LAS / .RCP |
|---|---|
| Textured mesh | .OBJ / .FBX |
| Orthomosaic | GeoTIFF |
| Surfaces | DTM / DEM |
| Turnaround | 2–3 BUSINESS DAYS FROM CAPTURE |
POINT CLOUD — STEEL TRUSS BRIDGEQuestions we get at scoping
Q/01Can you fly drones in the Brisbane CBD?
Yes, with the right approvals in place first. Hover operates under CASA ReOC #9398, which opens the automated airspace authorisation service for routine controlled-airspace work across the city. Restricted airspace, flights over people and anything above 120 m need a CASA Form 101-09 lodged at least 60 days ahead. The practical impact is lead time. Raise it at scoping and the airspace and paperwork are handled.
Q/02How fast can you mobilise in Brisbane?
Quotes come back within one business day, and local jobs typically run from scoping to capture inside a normal project window; airspace approvals and weather are the two variables. Scheduling is coordinated directly with your site team so that capture fits around the works.
Q/03What do councils and site managers require?
The standard pack is supplied before anyone mobilises: a JSA and site-specific flight documentation, proof of $28M public liability insurance, and operator certification under CASA ReOC #9398, with a SWMS wherever the site requires one. Where an asset owner runs its own permit process (rail corridors are the usual example), it's worked through as part of the scoped program.
Q/04How much does drone mapping in Brisbane cost?
It depends on the asset, the access and the deliverable; controlled-airspace work needs more planning than an open site. As a 2026 guide, exclusive of GST: topographic site surveys typically run $800 to $3,500, single-asset inspections start from a few hundred dollars, and volumetric surveys around $500 to $2,000 per visit. The Brisbane drone cost guide breaks down what moves the number; a written, fixed quote comes back within one business day.
Across greater Brisbane and the SEQ corners
Brisbane is home base, so most of South East Queensland is a local mobilisation. The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are within routine reach, and controlled-airspace work in the Brisbane CBD is arranged under CASA approval. For assets beyond South East Queensland, see regional QLD & Northern NSW.
Brisbane CBD & inner city
Controlled-airspace inspection and mapping in the CBD and inner suburbs, flown under CASA approval arranged as part of planning.
Ipswich
Growth-corridor earthworks, development sites and infrastructure across Ipswich and the western suburbs.
Logan
Site surveys, volumetrics and bridge and asset inspection across Logan and the M1 corridor.
Moreton Bay
Coastal and hinterland sites across the Moreton Bay region, from Redcliffe to Caboolture.
Redlands & bayside
Development sites, towers and infrastructure across Redland City and the bayside, where much of Hover's survey work is based.
Gold Coast
High-rise facades, canal-estate earthworks and infrastructure: a routine mobilisation from Brisbane, no travel premium.
Sunshine Coast
Coastal monitoring, new-estate earthworks and asset inspection across the Sunshine Coast and hinterland.
Scope this for your site
Send the asset and the deliverable you need. A scoped method and quote come back within one business day.
HARRY BILLING — CHIEF REMOTE PILOT
0411 445 458
[email protected]
CASA ReOC #9398 · $28M PUBLIC LIABILITY