Can you provide tonnage in addition to volume?

Yes — provide the bulk density of the material and we report both volume (cubic yards) and tonnage.

Drone photogrammetry capture of bulk material stockpiles for accurate volume calculation and inventory management at a quarry or construction site

Core Service

Drone Stockpile Volume Measurement

Fast, safe inventory measurement for quarries, mines, and sites using drone photogrammetry. Cut/fill volumes and tonnage in hours, not days.

Overview

Walking stockpiles with a GPS rover is slow, dangerous, and often inaccurate for irregular shapes. Holmes and Watson uses drone photogrammetry to create highly accurate 3D surface models of inventory. We calculate cut/fill volumes, tonnage (with known density), and changes over time — providing fast and reliable data for accounting, operations, and reserves reporting.

Why Choose Drone Stockpile Volumetrics

Drone-based volumetrics are typically within 1-3% of traditional survey methods, completed in a fraction of the time, with no rover crews walking unstable piles.

When to use it: Use stockpile volumetrics for monthly or quarterly inventory reconciliation, audit support, end-of-period reserves reporting, and any inventory question where ground methods are dangerous or impractical.

What We Inspect

Gravel, sand, and aggregate stockpiles
Coal and mineral inventory
Earthwork cut and fill measurements
Landfill capacity tracking
Bulk material yard inventory

Our Process

Control

Setting Ground Control Points (GCPs) to ensure survey-grade absolute accuracy.

Flight

Capturing high-overlap imagery across the entire site with paired RGB photogrammetry.

Modeling

Processing imagery into a dense 3D point cloud and Digital Surface Model (DSM).

Calculation

Defining stockpile boundaries and calculating volumes against a defined base plane.

Deliverables

Comprehensive volume report detailing cubic yards/meters for each pile, 3D interactive viewer, updated site map, and tonnage estimates with provided density.

Cost Factors

Number of stockpiles and total site area
Recurring program vs. one-off measurement
Reporting and integration with accounting/ERP systems

Frequently Asked Questions

With ground control points, drone photogrammetry typically lands within 1-3% of traditional survey methods — well within accounting and operational tolerances.