GREAT HARWOOD company Networx3 Drones has put a six-figure investment into creating what it hopes will be the most accurate 3D maps in the UK.

The business operates a fleet of five drones working for clients including the emergency services, water companies and energy suppliers.

The Stanley Court, Alan Ramsbottom Way based company now hopes to use these drones to capture thousands of photographs during pre-programmed flights in order to create large, high detail photo maps that can be used to monitor a variety of landscapes and developments.

Networx3 Drones managing director Ian Ashworth said: “Using this emerging technology massively expands what we can do with our drone fleet.

“We’ve already had interest from the construction and insurance industry and we can see this being used to give a 3D view of any land, property or water.”

As part of a recent major expansion Networx3 Drones now has five qualified commercial drone pilots and a £45,000 drone control vehicle which is home to its hi-tech drones, mapping software and a two-person operations hub.

The drones will use the world’s first adaptive flight planning app for commercial drone missions coupled with data analytics to capture the photos.

These photographs and data will then be transformed into a detailed and accurate photo maps using software from data analytics experts gNext Labs.

Thanks to this technology, the company says that the high-detail and high-resolution maps will offer a distortion-free representation of an area that’s true to the geography on the ground and will be so accurate that they can be used to measure distances between points and capture real-world conditions.

The company’s clients will be able to use these maps to plan new developments, analyse landscapes and survey buildings.

Mr Ashworth said: “The level of detail on the maps we produce is phenomenal.

“You can see individual roof tiles, rivets on a mobile phone mast and points on a railway line.

“We can record, inspect and survey skyscrapers, bridges, reservoirs, landfill sites, quarries, solar farms, cladding, agricultural land and then produce a 100% accurate digital map for clients like they’ve never seen before.”

To find out more about Networx3 Drones, visit: https://www.networx3drones.co.uk/.