Construction progress, on the record.
Photographs of a site prove somebody was there. A reconstruction proves what was standing. Fly the site each month and each flight becomes its own dated, measurable 3D record, filed against the same site, so a progress claim or a handover pack rests on geometry rather than on everyone's memory of February.
Three arguments it settles.
What got built, and when
Every flight carries the day it ran and nothing overwrites anything. A year of construction sits in one list you can step back through, which is a different thing from a shared drive of photographs nobody can date.
As-built geometry
Point-to-point measurement on the mesh and the point cloud, distance, area and elevation on the orthomosaic and the surface model, and a height at every pixel for cut and fill on the earthworks.
Evidence you can send
A share link puts the outputs, the numbers and the accuracy statement in front of a client, a funder or a contractor with no account to create. You set whether it lives 7, 30 or 90 days.
Five steps, and you only do the first two.
Fly the site and keep the overlap
You fly it, or your pilot does. The pipeline needs overlapping frames: each photograph has to share most of its view with the next one. JPEG or TIFF straight off the drone. DJI payload pairs, the _T and _W frames, are matched automatically.
Drag the folder into a browser
Nothing to install, no GPU of your own, no desktop licence. The upload is resumable, so a dropped connection does not cost you the flight. The server checks each file rather than guessing in the page.
Accept the fixed quote
The price appears before a single photograph is processed. Ignore it and nothing happens and nothing is charged.
The pipeline solves the cameras, then the geometry
It works out where every camera stood and where it was pointing, from the pictures alone, then matches detail across frames into millions of 3D points and finally a continuous textured surface. Every stage reports live with its own timing.
Open the results and take the files
The scene opens in the same browser. Measure in the viewer, or download all eight outputs and work in the tools you already run. A share link puts the job in front of a client with no login, for 7, 30 or 90 days.
Fly a similar pattern each time. Two flights over the same footprint compare cleanly; two flights at different altitudes over different extents need more work before they mean anything next to each other.
Eight files, in standard formats.
Every flight produces the full set. They open in the tools you already run, and nothing is locked inside a viewer you pay for again next year, which matters when the record has to outlive the project.
| Output | Format | What it is for | Measurable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dense point cloud | PLY / LAZ | Millions of 3D points. Distances, areas and volumes are taken on this. | yes |
| Textured mesh | OBJ / GLB / PLY | A continuous surface with the photographs on it, for measurement, CAD and viewers. | yes |
| Orthomosaic | GeoTIFF | The whole site flattened into one straight-down image, ready to drop into a GIS. | yes |
| Digital surface model | GeoTIFF | Height at every pixel. Contours, slopes, cut and fill. | yes |
| Gaussian splat | PLY / KSPLAT | The scene you fly through in a browser. Photoreal, and never measurable. | no |
| Camera poses | COLMAP | Where every photograph was taken from. Reprocess in your own tools whenever you want. | – |
| Run log | JSON | Every stage the pipeline ran, its timing and its settings. | – |
| Report | The run, the numbers and the accuracy statement in one document you can hand over. | – |
What one real flight produced.
Readings from a single flight through the production pipeline. This is the size of record one monthly flight leaves behind.
You see the price before anything runs.
Four mechanics, and they do not change from job to job.
A fixed quote first
The quote appears before a single photograph is processed. You accept it or you do not. Nothing starts on its own.
Charged on delivery
The job is billed when the files are delivered and verified. Not on upload, not on start, not on the attempt.
A failed run costs nothing
If the pipeline does not deliver, there is nothing to pay. The risk of a bad run sits with us.
No subscription
No monthly plan, no seat licence, no lock-in. You pay per job, and only for jobs that deliver.
The public price list is still being finalised, so per-job pricing is quoted by email in the meantime. Tell us the site, the drone and roughly how many photographs, and a fixed quote comes back. We would rather say that plainly than publish a number we intend to change.
What this does not claim.
- Scale is relative unless ground control is used. Without control points on the ground the reconstruction is proportionally correct, but it is not tied to real-world units and the sizes are unproven. If you need a number you can defend to a third party, tell us before you fly and we will tell you what that takes.
- A Gaussian splat is a picture, not a surface. Nothing on a splat is measurable. It is there to fly through and to show people. Every measurement comes off the mesh, the point cloud or the surface model, the outputs with real geometry behind them.
- There is no AI enhancement anywhere in the pipeline. Ask which pixels the camera saw and which a model imagined, and the answer is none of them. Every output is reconstructed from your photographs and nothing else. Where there were no photographs, the reconstruction shows nothing rather than inventing something.
- It does not compare against your BIM model or your programme. Helios delivers the dated record and the measurable geometry. It does not ingest a BIM model, read your programme, or tell you that you are behind. The comparison is yours to make, in your tools, on outputs in standard formats.
- Interiors and anything under a roof are not in it. Photogrammetry reconstructs what the camera saw. Structure, envelope, earthworks and site logistics reconstruct well. Interiors do not, and this does not replace an internal inspection.
Asked before you ask.
How does drone progress monitoring actually work?
You fly the site on a rough cadence, usually monthly, and each flight becomes its own job filed against the same site. Each one returns a dense point cloud, a textured mesh, a straight-down orthomosaic and a digital surface model, all carrying the date they were flown. Progress is the difference between two of those records. Nothing is overwritten and no flight replaces an earlier one, so a year of construction sits in one list you can step back through.
Can I take as-built geometry off it?
Yes, on the outputs with real geometry behind them. The point cloud and the textured mesh support point-to-point measurement, the orthomosaic and the surface model support distance, area and elevation, and measurements can be saved with the job. The surface model carries a height at every pixel, which is what does cut and fill on the earthworks phase. Scale is relative unless ground control is used, so if the as-built has to stand up to a third party, fly control points.
Does it compare the site against my BIM model or programme automatically?
No. Helios produces the dated record and the measurable geometry. It does not ingest a BIM model, does not read your programme and does not tell you that you are three weeks behind. You or your team do the comparison, in your own tools, against outputs in standard formats. We would rather say that plainly than let you buy it expecting automated schedule tracking.
Can the client or the funder see it without an account?
Yes. A share link opens the outputs, the numbers and the accuracy statement in any browser with no login and no account to create, and you choose whether it lives for 7, 30 or 90 days. That is usually how a progress claim, a funder update or a handover pack gets sent.
How quickly do we get the flight back?
Median turnaround measured at about 2.6 hours across our runs, and every stage reports live while it works. A large site takes considerably longer and says so: one large run spent 252 minutes in the photogrammetry stage alone. For a monthly cadence that is comfortably same-day.
What about the parts of the building the drone cannot see?
They are not in the reconstruction. Interiors, undersides of slabs, anything under a roof and the far face of anything flown from one direction will be missing, because photogrammetry only reconstructs what the camera saw. Progress monitoring works well on earthworks, structure, envelope and site logistics, and does not replace an internal inspection.
What does it cost per flight?
A fixed quote is issued before any processing starts, you are billed on delivery of verified outputs only, a failed run costs nothing and there is no subscription or seat licence. The public price list is still being finalised, so send the site, the drone and roughly how many photographs and a fixed quote comes back.
The same flight, other jobs.
Send us one flight and we will send back a quote.
Tell us the site, the drone and roughly how many photographs. A fixed quote comes back before anything runs.
Email usinfo@eyonasoftware.co.za · Eyona Software Development (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town · Helios runs at helios.eyonasoftware.co.za