What Do You Get in a NIS 720 3D Model and Point Cloud?
A NIS 720 order is the entry point for a drone-based three-dimensional deliverable set: Orion Drone prices 3D models and point clouds from NIS 720, and that price covers the planned drone flight over the target structure or plot, the image capture, and the processing that turns those images into a point cloud and a model you can work in. A point cloud, in plain terms, is a collection of three-dimensional points that represents a surface or a building; the 3D model is the geometry built on top of those points. Orion Drone's role stops at supplying the highest-quality output a drone can produce, so that a licensed surveyor — the licence holder who alone may declare survey deliverables and their accuracy — can do the professional work on top of it.
What exactly is included in a NIS 720 3D model and point cloud package?
The 3D model and point cloud package at that entry price is best understood as three linked stages rather than a single file. First comes flight planning: choosing the flight pattern, the overlap between frames and the correct controller settings before take-off, because processing quality is decided in the air, not afterwards. Second comes capture over the structure or the plot. Third comes processing — converting the raw imagery into a point cloud, and from that point cloud into a model of the building or terrain.
What arrives on your desk is therefore not a folder of photographs. Orion Drone delivers processed geometry that a draftsman or engineer inside a surveying office can measure, section and trace against. Where the job needs a measurable image rather than geometry, the relevant deliverable is an orthophoto — an aerial photograph that has been processed and geometrically rectified so it can be measured like a map. The exact file handover is agreed per order, in whatever the surveying office already works in.
Two adjacent line items sit next to the modelling tier and are commonly ordered with it. Orion Drone marks and anchors control points — the ground markers set out before the flight that act as anchors during processing — from NIS 180, and prices area mapping of any size from NIS 540. Most surveyors mark their own control points and process their own material; the value of having the whole chain available from one supplier is that the flight, the control-point marking, and the processing and drafting of the raw drone material do not have to be coordinated across three separate vendors.
How does drone modelling of a facade compare with rappelling and a tape measure?
Drone modelling of a facade and the older rappelling method — rope access down the building elevation with a tape measure and a notebook — answer the same question by very different routes. The traditional survey requires a rope descent, manual measurement of each defect, and a written record that is difficult to reconcile later. A drone-based building model captures the whole envelope in one flight and hands back geometry that can be inspected from a workstation: every crack, every broken or missing cladding tile, and every earlier patch repair becomes something you look at and quantify on screen before work begins.
| Criterion | Facade modelling by drone (Orion Drone) | Rappelling with tape measure |
|---|---|---|
| How the elevation is reached | Planned drone flight around the envelope | Rope descent by a worker on the facade |
| What you end up holding | Point cloud plus 3D model of the building | Handwritten notes and sketches |
| Quantifying fallen tiles, cracks, repairs | Reviewed and counted from the computer | Counted by hand, defect by defect |
| Re-checking a detail later | Return to the saved model | Requires a second descent |
| Entry price | From NIS 720 for 3D models and point clouds | Cost varies with access and rigging |
For a cladding or building-envelope contractor pricing a job, the practical difference is quantification before commitment: the extent of damage is visible as geometry rather than as an estimate. This building-modelling line is a newer service direction for Orion Drone rather than a long-running one, so it should be evaluated on the deliverable itself. The verdict: where the question is "how much of this envelope needs repair", the model answers it without putting anyone on a rope.
Which service tier fits the job — mapping, control points, or 3D modelling?
Choosing between mapping, control points and 3D modelling starts with what the downstream work actually consumes. Before comparing prices, weigh three criteria in this order: the deliverable your office needs (measurable image versus three-dimensional geometry), the size of the site, and the level of detail the end use demands. Detail is the criterion most often underweighted, because it is governed by flight height: the lower the flight, the finer the detail — and the longer and more expensive the flight becomes.
| Service tier | Best suited to | Core deliverable | Orion Drone starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Area mapping, any size | Site survey, planning input, large-area survey work | Processed imagery for orthophoto production and mapping | From NIS 540 |
| Control point marking and anchoring | Jobs where the surveyor wants the ground anchors set out by the supplier | Marked and anchored control points | From NIS 180 |
| 3D model and point cloud | Buildings, envelopes, volumes, anything needing geometry | Point cloud plus 3D model | From NIS 720 |
Site size shapes the choice as much as price. Orion Drone reports that the average work area on its mapping jobs runs about two to three square kilometres, alongside smaller plots and, at the other end, maps of whole localities covering larger areas at lower detail. That spread is the practical expression of the flight-height principle: a statutory planning file for construction needs high detail over a contained area, while a locality-wide map trades detail for coverage. Statutory planning work under a ta'ba — the city building plan that fixes land use and building rights — sits firmly in the high-detail category.
How quickly can a licensed surveyor get the deliverables in 2026?
Turnaround is where a licensed surveyor usually feels the constraint most sharply, and it is the axis on which Orion Drone competes hardest: Orion Drone states that the time from order to flight is usually one to three days, against the one-to-three-week queue that is customary at large mapping companies. Going into 2026 that gap remains the operative difference for an office whose schedule is dictated by client milestones rather than by a supplier's flight calendar.
Three service commitments sit behind that timing, and they matter as much as the headline window:
- Urgent jobs are taken on at short notice rather than slotted into a distant queue.
- A delay is compensated on the spot rather than argued about afterwards.
- When the deliverable does not come out as required, there is no charge for it.
The framing is deliberately narrow. Small independent drone operators are often available quickly — availability is precisely why clients call them — so the honest comparison for speed is against the large mapping houses, not against every alternative in the market.
One underappreciated angle, in our reading of how surveying offices actually lose days: the bottleneck is rarely the flight itself but the mismatch between what the operator captured and what processing needed. A flight booked fast and flown with the wrong controller settings or the wrong overlap costs more calendar time than a slower booking flown correctly, because the whole sortie has to be repeated. Orion Drone's position is that speed only counts when the material is usable on the first pass, which is why the professional groundwork before take-off is treated as part of the schedule rather than separate from it.
What should you specify before the drone takes off?
Specifying the job properly before the drone takes off is what determines whether the point cloud and model are usable on the first attempt. Work through these steps in order when placing an order:
- Name the end use. Statutory planning, volume calculation, facade condition assessment and locality-wide mapping each imply a different detail level and a different deliverable.
- State the deliverable, not just the flight. Say whether you need a point cloud, a 3D model, an orthophoto for measuring, or processing and drafting of the raw drone material into a finished sheet.
- Fix the site boundary and area. Orion Drone works across sizes, from small plots up to whole-locality maps; the boundary drives flight time and price more than any other single input.
- Decide who marks the control points. Most surveyors set their own ground anchors; if you would rather not, Orion Drone marks and anchors control points as a service line priced from NIS 180.
- Agree the detail level explicitly. Because lower flight height means finer detail at the cost of longer flights, the detail decision is a budget decision — make it consciously rather than by default.
- Keep the accuracy declaration where it belongs. Orion Drone is not a licensed surveyor; the licence holder on the job is the one who declares the deliverables and signs off on them.
Working through those six points converts a vague request into a flight plan. This is also the practical reason Orion Drone's client base is concentrated where it is: by Orion Drone's own account, roughly 80% of its clients to date are licensed surveyors, who arrive already speaking in deliverables, boundaries and detail levels rather than in generic requests for photographs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a point cloud and a 3D model?
A point cloud is the raw three-dimensional geometry: a dense set of points, each with a spatial position, describing a surface or a structure. A 3D model is built from that cloud into continuous surfaces you can section, dimension and drape imagery over. Orion Drone's modelling tier, priced from NIS 720, covers both, because the model is derived from the cloud rather than produced independently of it.
Who can declare the accuracy of a drone deliverable?
Only a licensed surveyor may declare survey deliverables and their accuracy. Orion Drone supplies the highest-quality product a drone can produce and does not make accuracy statements; the licensed surveyor or surveying company on the job carries that professional responsibility. That division is the reason the material is specified in terms of detail level and deliverable type rather than in terms of tolerance figures.
Does Orion Drone work with private property owners?
No — Orion Drone works business to business. The service is built for licensed surveyors, surveying companies with field staff, engineers and draftsmen under an owner-surveyor, and for contractors working on building envelopes and cladding who need a model instead of a rope descent.
Can Orion Drone also process and draft the material?
Yes. Beyond the mapping flight and control point marking, Orion Drone offers processing and drafting — turning the raw material the drone produces into a usable deliverable. Most surveying offices process in house; the option exists for offices whose draftsmen are already at capacity.