Stockpile Volumetrics: Aggregates & Mining

Material sitting in piles is money on the books: and the fastest way to measure it is from the air. Skyflex flies your yard, quarry, or terminal, reconstructs a survey-grade 3D surface of every pile, and reports the volumes your inventory, audit, or pay application needs: without a ground crew walking the site or anyone climbing the material.

How an aerial volumetric survey works

We fly a tight overlapping pattern over the site and reconstruct a precisely scaled 3D model of every surface: photogrammetry when the material is open and clearly visible, LiDAR when vegetation or site conditions demand it. Each pile’s toe is defined against the base surface, and its volume is computed directly from the model, using the same documented method on every capture.

What we deliver

• Per-pile volume report, with each pile identified on a labeled map of the site
• Georeferenced orthomosaic in GeoTIFF: the top-down map of the whole yard, every pixel measurable
• Surface model and image-derived point cloud for your own QA and takeoffs
• Change comparison against a prior capture, when a baseline exists
• Exports in the formats your inventory workflow expects

Inventory on a repeatable cadence

A one-off measurement settles a question; a cadence runs an operation. Monthly or quarterly captures reuse the same flight plan, the same base surfaces, and the same reporting format, so period-over-period changes reflect the material: not the measurement method. Ground control can be added where financial reconciliation demands it.

No one on the pile

Walking a stockpile with a GPS rover puts someone on loose, unstable material around active loader traffic. An aerial survey measures the entire yard from above: production never pauses, and nobody sets foot on the pile.

Who buys volumetric surveys

Aggregate producers, mining and quarry operations, bulk-material terminals, municipal and DOT yards, and construction teams reconciling earthwork quantities. If material sits in piles and someone has to answer for the tonnage, this is the survey that answers.

The questions buyers ask first

• How is each pile’s volume actually computed? Each pile’s toe is defined against the base surface and its volume is computed directly from the reconstructed 3D model, using the same documented method on every capture.
• Photogrammetry or LiDAR? Photogrammetry when the material is open and clearly visible; LiDAR when vegetation or site conditions demand it.
• Can we compare one period against the last? Yes. Repeat captures reuse the same flight plan, the same base surfaces and the same reporting format, so period-over-period change reflects the material rather than the measurement method.
• Is it defensible for inventory audit or financial reconciliation? Ground control can be added where financial reconciliation requires it, and every capture is reported with the same documented method.
• Does anyone need to be on the piles? No. The whole yard is captured from the air with no ground crew walking the site and nobody climbing the material.