Mapping Construction Sites: Drones, Mobile Mapping Surveys and 360° Capture
A survey-grade map, a drone orthophoto and a 360° drive answer different questions. Ordering the wrong one wastes the budget.
Keep every map, scan and drive of your site in one place. Point clouds, drone flights and 360° captures, dated by survey and open in the browser.
14 days free with no credit card, or 30 days when you book a demo.
Have a LAS, LAZ or PLY scan? Open it free in the Lite Viewer — no account needed.
Mapping methods compared
The right method depends on what you need to measure, how accurate it has to be, and how often you need it again.
| Method | Output | Best for | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drone mapping | Orthophotos, surface models, point clouds | Earthworks, stockpiles, roofs, large open sites | Needs a pilot and permission to fly; sees only from above |
| Mobile mapping survey | Point clouds and imagery along a route | Roads, rail, tunnels and other long corridors | Accuracy depends on the system and survey control; specialist provider |
| Terrestrial laser scanning | Dense, measurable point clouds | Buildings, plant rooms, as-built checks | Slower to cover large areas; scans set up one station at a time |
| 360° walk or drive | Dated imagery pinned to a plan or route | Frequent visual records, remote reviews, defect spotting | A visual record, not survey-grade measurement |
When a mobile mapping survey is the right call
Mobile mapping earns its cost on long, linear assets — highways, rail lines, tunnels, utility corridors — where you need a measurable point cloud and setting up a static scanner every few metres would take too long.
It is usually overkill for a weekly look at how work is going. For that, a 360° drive along the same route on every visit gives a dated visual record with far less effort, and you can commission a survey-grade mapping run at the milestones that need one.
Planning a mapping job
- Decide what the map is for and the accuracy you need. A design check needs survey grade; a progress record does not.
- Agree the deliverable formats up front — for point clouds, usually LAS, LAZ or E57 — so everyone can open them.
- Agree the coordinate system and control, so this survey lines up with the last one and with the design.
- Plan the route or flight, and how often it will be repeated.
- Decide where the data will live and who needs access before the first file arrives.
Common mapping mistakes
Ordering the wrong grade. Survey-grade data for a visual check wastes budget; a visual record cannot settle a measurement dispute.
Deliverables nobody can open. A point cloud that needs a workstation and a desktop licence stays on the surveyor’s hard drive.
No agreed coordinate system. Surveys that do not line up cannot be compared over time.
One-off surveys with no follow-up. A single map shows a moment. Changes only show up when you repeat it.
Where SpatialSense fits
SpatialSense keeps your mapping data in one browser-based platform, dated by survey. Upload point clouds from any scan vendor or mobile mapping provider as LAS, LAZ, E57 or PCD; they are converted once and then stream in the browser, where you can measure them. Drone flights, BIM models and floor plans sit alongside them, and you can set a coordinate system on each survey if you need one.
For frequent visual records along roads and long civil sites, Trace Car Mode puts an Insta360 X4 or X5 on a suction mount on the car and shows the driver turn-by-turn arrows along the planned route, so every pass covers the same ground. AI analysis flags road defects such as potholes and cracks for your team to review. Trace captures 360° imagery, not a survey-grade point cloud — bring your mobile mapping survey data in alongside it.
More than a map viewer
Measure in the browser
Distances and dimensions, checked directly in the viewer — no export to desktop software first. Measure point clouds in your browser →
Compare surveys over time
Line up two scans of the same site from different dates and see what changed. Compare point clouds across time →
Open E57 scans
The vendor-neutral format many scanners export opens without desktop software. Open E57 files in your browser →
Drive the route with Trace
A 360° camera on the car and app-guided routes for roads and long sites. See how Trace works →
Frequently asked questions
Is Trace a mobile mapping system?
No. Trace records 360° imagery along a route and pins it to your plan or route, which suits frequent visual records. For measurable point clouds, bring your mobile mapping survey data into SpatialSense alongside the drives.
Can I open mobile mapping point clouds in the browser?
Yes. Upload LAS, LAZ, E57 or PCD point clouds from any scan vendor to the SpatialSense platform. LAS, LAZ and PLY files also open free in the Lite Viewer, with no account.
What kinds of projects does Car Mode cover?
Trace Car Mode has project types for highway, bridge, tunnel and railway work, and keeps recording when the signal drops.
Is it really free?
You can try the SpatialSense platform free for 14 days with no credit card, or book a demo and use it free for 30 days. Paid plans start from USD 500 per site per month, with unlimited users.
Is my data private?
Yes. Projects are private by default and access is role-based — only people you invite can open your surveys.
Bring your team in. Start a free trial and bring your site maps and scans into one place today.