Virtual Surveyor expands cloud integration to enhance collaboration

Virtual Surveyor has further improved data storage, remote access and team collaboration by expanding its smart drone surveying software with integration for Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint. With the new Version 10.1 release, users can store and manage survey data in the cloud, enabling more flexible workflows and easier collaboration across locations.

The software supports end-to-end 3D survey workflows from drone imagery, covering single time points, change monitoring and future design planning. The addition of OneDrive follows earlier integration with Dropbox, reflecting Virtual Surveyor’s focus on offering users a range of widely used cloud storage options. 

Eliminating the worry of losing data

“Our objective with OneDrive integration is to make project access easy and affordable by using cloud storage many users already pay for,” said Tom Op ‘t Eyndt, Virtual Surveyor CEO. “With OneDrive, there is no special configuration by the user; Virtual Surveyor project data can be saved to cloud locations just like Word or Excel files.”

This means data follows Virtual Surveyor users to any computer where they work. Just as importantly, users can set up team accounts with shared folders accessible to an unlimited number of team members in remote locations. They can access and work with project files from any computer running the Virtual Surveyor desktop app and save their changes back to the cloud.

“A major advantage of both OneDrive and Dropbox is that they synchronize locally on the computer where the user is working, so there is no latency when Virtual Surveyor software accesses the project data,” said Op ‘t Eyndt.

In general, cloud storage eliminates the worry of losing valuable data either by accidental file overwrite or deletion. OneDrive and Dropbox automatically and continually back up files to the cloud where users can recover them if the data disappears from the computer hard drive.

Stockpile monitoring

Two other new features in Virtual Surveyor V10.1 are designed to improve ease of use. Users can now add local, network and cloud locations as favourite locations to make it easier to find surveying projects they work on frequently.

Another enhancement is in Virtual Surveyor’s extremely popular stockpile functionality which enables users to easily calculate the volume and tonnage of materials in stockpiles surveyed with drone imagery. For very large facilities with many stockpiles of different materials (sand, aggregate, etc.), users can now assign a material through a search function instead of having to scroll through a long list.

Virtual Surveyor V10.1 remains an incredibly robust tool for creating surveys from drone images and Lidar point clouds for use by engineers in construction, surface mining and excavation projects – without the need for third-party software. The package includes surveying capabilities, photogrammetric functionality and topographic design tools in a series of progressive subscription plans differentiated by time for past, present and future 3D terrain surveys.