How roofing contractors, roof consultants, facility managers and building-envelope consultants use drones today — infrared moisture surveys, condition assessments, bid measurements, storm and warranty documentation, facade work — and, use case by use case, what Omniris delivers for each.
A commercial roof is one of the most expensive parts of a building to replace, and one of the hardest to look at. It is flat, large, often reached only by ladder or hatch, and its worst problem — water trapped in the insulation under an intact-looking membrane — cannot be seen from the surface at all. For decades the answer has been a person on the roof: walking it twice a year, taking photographs, and, for moisture, walking it again after dark with a handheld infrared camera. Drones change where that person stands. An infrared camera at 100 ft sees about a hundred times the roof area per image that a handheld camera sees at 10 ft, and the whole roof can be imaged in minutes rather than hours.1
Omniris is where those flights become work products. Thermal photos become a map of measured surface temperatures; colour photos become a map, a measurable 3D model or a photo-real 3D scene; warm areas become ranked moisture candidates and then tracked findings; and every file, reading and change sits in a tamper-evident custody record. The thermographer gets ranked, located candidates to core, the estimator gets areas, lengths, heights and face tilts measured from the flight, and the owner gets a dated, tamper-evident record of the roof, flight by flight.
An after-sunset thermal flight becomes a temperature map. Anomaly detection ranks the warm areas by how far they stand above the roof's background, with size and location, using a Roof site-type preset framed on ASTM C1153.
Each warm area can become a finding with its outline, its temperature evidence and a status, to be confirmed or dismissed when the cores come back.
Plan area and perimeter on the map; lengths, heights, the area of a single roof face and its tilt on the 3D model. Readings are in feet and square feet first.
Every flight of a building is a dated layer. Fade, swipe or blink between dates, pin damage as findings, and hand an adjuster a link instead of a USB stick.
Facade flights become 3D models; for DJI thermal drones the model can carry a thermal skin, viewed in the same 3D viewer.
Maps, reports, findings and the settings behind every temperature are fingerprinted and sealed, can be put under legal hold, and come with certificates anyone can check.
Drones are used across the life of a commercial roof and the walls below it: before a bid, at closeout of a new roof, on a maintenance schedule, after a storm, and when a leak or an energy complaint needs explaining. The missions, how often they are flown and what the buyer expects to receive are summarised below and then described one by one.
| Mission | When and how often | What the buyer expects | Governing reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrared roof moisture survey (insulated low-slope roofs) | At night after a sunny day, with no precipitation in the previous 24 hours; during condition assessments, before purchase, and as quality assurance on new roofs2, 3 | Stitched infrared and colour images of the whole roof, thermal anomalies marked on a roof plan, the wet area as a share of the roof, close-ups at problem locations, and test-cut results1 | ASTM C1153 (location of wet insulation using infrared imaging)2 |
| Routine roof inspection and condition assessment | At least twice a year, preferably spring and fall, plus after severe weather, construction on or near the roof, fire or vandalism4, 5 | A record of conditions at gutters, edge metal, flashings, penetrations, equipment and seams; a checklist or condition rating; repair priorities4, 6 | NRCA recommendations4; manufacturer maintenance guidelines5; condition-index methods such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' ROOFER6 |
| Measurement for bids and scopes | Before every estimate and replacement bid | Roof area by slope, the slope in inches per foot, lengths of eaves, rakes, hips, ridges and valleys, and a waste allowance that grows with valleys, hips, ridges and penetrations7, 19 | Contractor and manufacturer estimating practice |
| Storm and claims documentation | After hail, strong winds, hurricanes, blizzards and ice storms5; a baseline flown before the season gives the comparison | Dated photographs of damage, located on the roof, that an adjuster can rely on8 | Insurer practice; the policy |
| New-roof closeout and warranty | At completion; then the owner's maintenance log for the warranty term3, 5 | Evidence that no wet material was installed; a file of inspections, repairs and rooftop activity3, 5 | The manufacturer's warranty terms5 |
| Wall and envelope thermography | When the inside–outside temperature difference is large and steady; during envelope commissioning1, 3 | Located heat loss, missing insulation, air leakage sites and thermal bridges3 | ASTM C1060 (insulation in frame buildings), ASTM E1186 (air leakage sites), ASTM E2813 (enclosure commissioning)1, 3, 9, 18 |
| Facade visual inspection | On the cycle a city's facade ordinance sets, or after an incident | Close-range imagery that supplements a hands-on examination by the qualified inspector10 | Local facade ordinances (for example New York City's Facade Inspection & Safety Program)10 |
Water stores far more heat than dry insulation. During a sunny day the roof absorbs heat; after sunset, roofing over wet insulation or saturated cover board cools more slowly than roofing over dry material, so for some hours it stays warmer. An infrared survey looks for those warm areas, then separates the patterns that mean water from the ones that don't — changes in membrane thickness, penetrations, dirt and debris.3 ASTM C1153, the practice for locating wet roof insulation by infrared imaging, applies to night-time imaging of roofs whose insulation sits above the deck under the waterproofing, and expressly covers both ground-based and aerial inspections. It sets out equipment criteria, the meteorological conditions under which inspections are performed, the effect of roof construction and materials, operating procedures and operator qualifications, and verification of the infrared data by invasive test methods.2 Practitioners summarise those conditions as a minimum inside–outside temperature difference, a minimum day-to-night temperature swing, a maximum wind speed, a suitable roof condition and no precipitation in the 24 hours before the scan — and warn that meeting all of them still does not guarantee valid results.3
The infrared picture is a map of candidates, not a moisture reading. ASTM C1153 does not determine the cause of moisture or its point of entry, and does not judge whether a roof can still work as waterproofing.2 Practitioners' guidance ends the same way: cores and moisture probes at the marked areas confirm the construction and the presence of water, and test cuts should always be performed to verify a scan.1, 3 Some roofs cannot be surveyed this way at all, or only for large problems: a concrete slab over the insulation hides wet insulation from the camera; stone ballast and pavers store heat and mask anomalies; gravel surfacing produces patterns hard to tell from small wet areas; standing-seam metal roofs cannot be scanned with an infrared camera.1, 3
Other non-destructive moisture methods sit beside infrared rather than being replaced by it, among them electrical impedance (capacitance) scanning, standardised in ASTM D7954, which works over non-conductive membranes but gives false readings over foil-faced materials.11
Two reasons recur: coverage and safety. A handheld camera on a ladder at roof level, 10 ft above the surface, frames about 2.6 × 2.6 ft; a drone at 100 ft frames about 26.7 × 26.7 ft. A roof that took several hours to scan on foot at night can be covered in minutes, with more consistent images, better viewing angles that reduce reflections from neighbouring surfaces, and stitched images that are easier to read as a whole than hundreds of separate frames.1 One consultancy's account describes scanning 46 high-rise roofs in two nights, quantifying the wet area on each roof as a share of the roof, ranking the roofs and supporting a phased replacement plan.1
On safety: falls from roofs were about one-third of all fatal falls in U.S. construction from 1992 to 2009, and two-thirds of roof-fall deaths happened at small firms of one to ten employees.12 Under OSHA's construction standard, each employee on a walking or working surface with an unprotected side or edge 6 ft (1.8 m) or more above a lower level must be protected by guardrails, a safety net or a personal fall arrest system; for roofing work on low-slope roofs (a slope of 4 in 12 or less) a warning line combined with a guardrail, safety net, personal fall arrest or safety monitoring system is also allowed, and on roofs 50 ft (15.25 m) wide or less a safety monitoring system alone.13, 14 ASTM C1153 itself warns of the hazards of walking roofs and of flying aircraft at low altitude, especially at night, and calls it good safety practice to have at least two people on the roof surface at all times during ground-based inspections.2 A drone does not remove the need to go on the roof — cores, repairs and hands-on inspection still put people there — but it shortens the time spent near the edge, especially at night.
NRCA recommends roof inspections at least twice a year, preferably in spring and fall, with additional inspections after construction or repairs on or near the roof and after severe weather, fire or vandalism; an inspection covers gutters and downspouts, edge and rake metal, hips and ridges, valleys, wall flashings, rooftop penetrations and equipment, and metal panels and seams, recorded on a checklist.4 One manufacturer's owner-maintenance guidelines, citing NRCA and the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association, repeat the twice-a-year visual inspection by a qualified party, recommend inspections after hail, strong winds, hurricanes, blizzards and ice storms, ask owners to keep a file of the warranty, installation and repair invoices and a log of roof inspections and rooftop activity, and state that unauthorised repairs void the warranty.5 Large portfolios go further: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' ROOFER system rates membrane, flashing and insulation separately using a standardised visual distress survey, and assesses insulated membrane roofs from a roof moisture survey together with gravimetric analysis of core cuts, to produce condition indexes that drive maintenance decisions.6
Roofing estimates are priced from measurements. For steep-slope shingle roofs, a roofing manufacturer's estimating guide works out the roof area plane by plane, or from the roof's horizontal footprint multiplied by a factor for each slope, with slope expressed in inches of rise per foot of run; it then takes the lengths of the eaves, rakes, hips, ridges and valleys, which set the quantities of starter strip, drip edge, hip and ridge shingles and valley flashing, and adds a waste allowance to the area. It also notes that the measurements can be taken from the building's plans, from the ground or from the attic rather than on the roof.7 NRCA notes that most asphalt shingle installations need 2% to 10% extra shingles for trim waste, depending on the number of valleys, dormers, hips and ridges and on the roof penetrations.19
Insurers began using drones for roof claim inspections around 2016, after the FAA's small-drone rules took effect, on claims from windstorms, spring storms and hurricanes; one insurer reported cutting its time from damage report to repair estimate from a typical 11 days to as few as four and a half (insurer-reported). Policyholder advocates caution that drone footage should supplement, not replace, a physical inspection, because hail damage can be subtle even when it is serious.8 A flight before the storm season gives the comparison that a post-storm flight needs.
Envelope thermography of walls follows different standards from roof moisture work. ASTM C1060 covers qualitative infrared inspection of insulation in wood- and metal-frame walls, ceilings, roofs and floors, to detect missing insulation18; practitioners writing on its 2015 edition cite an indoor–outdoor temperature difference of at least 18 °F (10 °C) for about four hours before testing; ASTM E1186 covers qualitative location of air-leakage sites, often with the building pressurised or depressurised; practitioners use both during condition assessments and as quality assurance during envelope commissioning, and wind can mute or diffuse the patterns.3 ASTM E2813, the building enclosure commissioning practice, calls for roof thermal imaging for its enhanced level and lists wall imaging as optional.1 Facades are a separate, regulated inspection in some cities: New York City's Department of Buildings concluded in 2021 that drones could supplement, not replace, the hands-on examination by the Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector, and that commercial drone use for those inspections would need new legislation.10
Drone roof work is flown by roof consultants and building-envelope engineering firms with their own pilots and thermographers, by roofing contractors' estimating and service teams, and by drone service providers working for owners, facility managers and insurers. Commercial flights in the United States require an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate.1 Night flight — which an after-sunset moisture survey is — has been allowed under Part 107 without a waiver since the FAA's 2021 amendment, for remote pilots who passed the initial knowledge test or completed the training after April 6, 2021, with anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles; the same lighting is required during civil twilight.15 Practitioners stress training and certification in both piloting and infrared interpretation, and pairing the drone operator with a qualified professional who interprets the results.1, 16
Each drone use above, and what Omniris delivers for it once the flight is flown.
| Use case | What Omniris delivers |
|---|---|
| Infrared moisture survey | Thermal photos become a verified temperature map; anomaly detection, with the Roof preset, ranks warm areas with peak, rise, area and location; isotherms, spot probes and region statistics; a report with the ASTM C1153 conditions and caveat; each candidate a finding on which core and probe results are recorded and the finding confirmed or dismissed |
| Daytime colour map of the roof | Straight-down photos stitched into an orthomosaic with surface and terrain models, measured on the map |
| Routine inspection and condition assessment | One site per building or roof, a dated layer per flight, findings with category, severity, status and assignee, worked from the phone; recurring jobs on the inspection cadence |
| Measurement for bids | Plan area and perimeter, horizontal, slope and terrain distances and height profiles on the map; length, height, face area and face tilt on the 3D model |
| Pre- and post-storm documentation | Dated flights compared by fade, swipe or blink; damage pinned as findings; open-vocabulary AI detection with human review; a two-date situation report; links for adjusters |
| New-roof closeout and warranty file | A closeout thermal and colour survey, the report, findings and a sealed record of each flight, kept on the building's site as the inspection and repair log grows |
| Wall and facade thermography | Angled thermal flights from DJI thermal drones become a thermal skin on the 3D model, viewed in 3D with a temperature legend |
| Facade visual inspection | Perimeter and orbit missions, measurable 3D models, photo-real splats, findings placed on the model — a record that supplements the hands-on inspection a facade ordinance requires |
| Context views | 360° panoramas stitched free of charge from a DJI sphere capture, with nearby findings shown in their direction |
| Hiring the flight | In the cloud and data center editions: a job request for a roof inspection with thermal, map or 3D deliverables, flown by a pilot whose Part 107 certificate Omniris has checked, delivered into your vault |
This is the core roofing workflow in Omniris, from flight to finding to report. The Thermal Imaging paper describes the thermal pipeline in full; what follows is how a roof survey uses it.
In Site Manager, create a site for the building (or one per roof area) and set its type to Roof / building envelope. The type does two things: it loads the roof starting values into anomaly detection, and it puts the ASTM C1153 wording into the thermal section of the report. Every flight of the building then joins the site as a dated layer.
A daytime colour flight for the roof plan and close-ups, and an after-sunset thermal flight, both flown as a straight-down grid. Thermal and colour photos from the same flight can be uploaded into one folder; Omniris recognises the thermal photos from the camera's own markings and keeps them out of the colour map.
The stitch dialog finds the thermal photos and offers the Thermal option already ticked. DJI and FLIR radiometric photos are converted to °C photo by photo using five saved settings — emissivity (0.95 by default), distance, humidity, air temperature and reflected temperature — with humidity and air temperature prefilled from the weather reading nearest the capture time — the evening reading for an after-sunset flight — and reflected temperature set to the air temperature, all editable. The dialog names the weather source and the hour it used. The result is checked to confirm it really holds temperatures before it is labelled THERMAL; only a THERMAL map is read by the tools, the report and Orion.
The flame button on the thermal layer searches the whole roof for areas warmer than its typical (median) temperature by at least a set amount and at least a set size, and ranks them by how far their peak stands above that background. On a Roof site it starts warm, at +10 °F (+5.6 °C) and 10 ft² (0.9 m²), and the panel says why: ASTM C1153 treats warm areas on the post-sunset flight as moisture candidates and sets no temperature or size threshold, so the general values apply. Every value can be changed and the search re-run; a cold search is also available. The panel lists each area's peak temperature, average rise and area in ft²; the report adds square metres and coordinates.
Click for a temperature at any point, or compare two points and see the difference — with two thermal maps on at once (two evenings' flights, say), the second click reads the same flight as the first wherever that flight has data, and when it cannot, the panel names both flights and says the difference compares two flights; outline an area for its minimum, average, maximum and 2nd and 98th percentiles; or switch the layer to an isotherm that highlights only what is above, below or between temperatures you type in °F. Lower the thermal layer's opacity over the colour map of the same day to see what sits under each warm area: a drain, a patch, a unit curb.
Promote any anomaly, or all of them at once, to a finding in the default Thermal anomaly category, or tick Create findings so the next detection files them automatically. Each finding carries the anomaly's outline, an evidence image cut from the temperature map in the ironbow scale, and a value: its largest difference from the background. Severity comes from your organization's rules on that difference; the starting rules follow electrical-inspection practice, never file an automatic thermal finding above High, and can be changed to suit roof work.
The crew takes cores or probe readings at the marked areas, with the findings on their phone and Navigate to each one. Results go onto the finding as comments and photos; the finding is confirmed, resolved or marked a false positive, and every step is sealed in its history.
The stitch report prints the temperature map with its scale, the ten highest-ranked anomalies, the weather during the flight from a weather archive, and, for a Roof site, a block that sets out ASTM C1153's conditions — 24 hours without precipitation, daytime solar loading, a post-sunset capture window — and its caveat: warm areas are moisture candidates, the standard requires invasive verification before wet insulation is confirmed, and the report locates candidates; it does not certify moisture.
Illustrative example values. The top three of seven candidates found with the Roof preset.
Omniris records the flight time, the camera angle and height, the temperature settings used, and the weather in the flight window — air temperature, wind and gusts, cloud cover, humidity and any precipitation during the flight. The report puts the standard's conditions next to that recorded weather; the 24 dry hours before the flight, the building's inside temperature and a dry roof surface are confirmed by the thermographer, who makes the call. The report states that the result is a set of candidates.
Roof construction. Omniris measures surface temperature, so the roof types that limit any infrared survey — a concrete topping slab, ballast, pavers, gravel surfacing, standing-seam metal — limit it in the same way. Anomaly detection on such roofs finds temperature contrast, and the interpretation is the thermographer's.
Cameras. DJI radiometric thermal drones (Mavic 3 Thermal, Matrice 4 Thermal, Matrice 30T, Zenmuse H20T / H20N and H30T, Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced), FLIR radiometric cameras (the Skydio X10 is validated; maps from other FLIR cameras are labelled "camera not validated — temperatures unverified") and MicaSense Altum cameras with a built-in thermal band.
A roof program is a list of buildings, each inspected on a schedule, each with a growing list of things to watch and fix. Omniris keeps that record: the buildings, the flights, the imagery and every item found on them.
Condition ratings, remaining-life and budget forecasts and the roof inventory live in the consultant's report or an asset-management system, which reads the findings through the API or a webhook (see Sharing and delivery). The NRCA inspection checklist, the manufacturer's maintenance log and condition-index methods such as ROOFER are applied by the inspector; Omniris keeps the imagery and the findings they rest on.4, 5, 6
Bids are priced from area, perimeter, edge lengths and pitch. Omniris gives you the tools to take those measurements yourself from a flight, drawing each one on the map or clicking it on the 3D model.
| Where | Tool | What it reports |
|---|---|---|
| On the map | Area | Draw a polygon: its area on the ground (plan area) in ft² or acres, and its perimeter, computed on the Earth's surface rather than on a flat projection |
| On the map | Distance | Draw a line: horizontal distance, and, where a surface model from the flight covers it, the slope distance (straight between the points you placed) and the terrain distance (following the surface, averaged over each 16 ft (5 m) stretch) |
| On the map | Profile | Heights along a line, drawn as a chart and exported as a spreadsheet; useful for reading falls toward drains and parapet heights from the surface model |
| On the 3D model | Measure | Click points on the model: the latest segment, the total path, the straight-line distance and, separately, the vertical difference, so a parapet's height is never confused with a diagonal |
| On the 3D model | Face area | Click the corners of one roof face, wall or panel: the area on its own plane, its perimeter, and its tilt from horizontal in whole degrees. If the corners are not on one plane the readout says so, because the number then under-reads a folded surface |
Results follow your choice of feet or metres. The 3D tools are offered only on a model that was scaled and placed from its photos' GPS; on one that could not be, the button is switched off and says why. The Digital Twins paper covers the 3D model and its tools in full.
A face of a pitched roof, clicked on the 3D model, reads 1,264 ft² (117.4 m²) face area · 152 ft (46.3 m) perimeter · 18° from horizontal. A tilt of 18° is a pitch of about 3.9 in 12 (rise per 12 = 12 × tan 18°). The same face outlined on the map gives its plan area, about 1,202 ft² (111.7 m²) — smaller by the factor cos 18°. On a low-slope roof the two are almost equal: at ¼ in 12 the difference is under 0.05%.
After a storm, the questions are what changed, where, and whether anyone can trust the pictures. Omniris answers the first two with dated flights and the third with its custody record.
Repair pricing and the claim estimate stay with the contractor and the adjuster, working from that record; as policyholder advocates point out, drone imagery supplements a physical inspection rather than replacing it.8
A closeout survey of a new roof — a colour map, an after-sunset thermal map showing no unexplained warm areas, and the report — is a record the owner, the installer and the manufacturer can all point to; practitioners use infrared surveys exactly this way, to confirm no wet material was installed.3 Kept on a site, later inspection flights and findings build the inspection and repair log that manufacturers' maintenance guidelines ask owners to keep, with rooftop work by other trades recorded as findings when it causes damage.5
Walls are photographed at an angle, so Omniris turns wall flights into 3D models, with temperatures laid on as a thermal skin.
A temperature map is stitched from straight-down photos; for a flight shot mostly at an angle the stitch dialog says so and offers a 3D model instead. For walls, the temperatures are laid onto the 3D model as a thermal skin: the model's shape comes from the colour photos and its surface is coloured from the thermal photos taken at the same moments.
ASTM C1060 and E1186 surveys depend on a steady inside–outside temperature difference and, for air leakage, on pressurising or depressurising the building.3 The thermographer documents interior temperature and building pressure alongside the flight, and close-range photos from a handheld camera are filed in the vault with the rest of the record.
The mission planner's Perimeter pattern flies rings inset from the building outline with the camera facing in, and Orbit circles a single structure; both export to the pilot's flight app. The photos become a measurable 3D model (a textured mesh, with point clouds and a 3D model file for other software) or a photo-real Gaussian splat for walk-throughs. On the mesh you can measure a wall's height, an opening's width or a panel's area, and place findings by clicking the surface. Where a city's facade program requires a hands-on examination, a drone record supplements it; it does not stand in for it.10
| Product | From | Use on a roof or building |
|---|---|---|
| Orthomosaic, surface and terrain models | A straight-down grid | The roof plan: area, perimeter, distances and profiles; the base layer findings sit on; the colour layer under the thermal map |
| Temperature map | A straight-down thermal grid | Moisture candidates, probes, region statistics, isotherms, anomaly detection and the report |
| 3D mesh | Crosshatch, perimeter or orbit flights | Lengths, heights, face areas and tilts in 3D; findings on walls, curbs and parapets; files for 3D and point-cloud software |
| Thermal skin | A DJI thermal drone's angled flight with colour pairs | Temperatures on walls and pitched roofs, viewed in 3D |
| Gaussian splat | Photos from many angles | A photo-real record of how the building looked, for owners and walk-throughs; not measured |
| 360° panorama | A DJI sphere capture from one hover | Context around the building; findings within 3,281 ft (1,000 m) appear as labels in their direction. Free of charge |
Comparing dates. Any layer, thermal maps included, can be compared between two dates by eye: fade, curtain or blink. A computed difference map is offered for elevation and crop-index layers; thermal dates are compared visually, and choosing a thermal layer in Compare's computed-difference mode points there. The Site Management paper describes Compare in full.
| Reference | What it governs | What Omniris does with it |
|---|---|---|
| ASTM C11532 | Locating wet roof insulation by infrared imaging | The Roof site type starts anomaly detection warm on the post-sunset flight, with general threshold values because the standard sets none, and the report repeats the standard's conditions and its verification caveat. Omniris does not certify that a survey meets the standard |
| ASTM C1060, E11863, 9, 18 | Wall insulation and air-leakage thermography | Wall temperatures viewed on the 3D model's thermal skin; interior temperature and building pressure are documented by the thermographer |
| FAA 14 CFR Part 10715 | Small drone operations, including night | Pilot certificates checked against the FAA; a pre-flight checklist with the night-lighting and training item; airspace checks |
Omniris locates warm areas and measures them; it does not determine that insulation is wet, why, or where the water entered — which ASTM C1153 itself leaves to invasive verification.2 Measurements from a drone map or model are not a survey by a licensed surveyor. The report and the findings give the numbers, the conditions and the evidence so a qualified person can make the call.
Roof findings end up in places where they are argued over: a warranty claim, a dispute with an installer, an insurance claim after a storm, a purchase negotiation. Everything in Omniris sits in the same tamper-evident custody record described in the Evidence Integrity paper.
In the Omniris cloud and the data center edition, an owner, facility manager or consultant can post a job request and have it flown by a pilot from the Omniris marketplace. The request form carries what a roof job needs:
In the United States, a pilot needs a current Part 107 certificate, checked against the FAA's records, to apply for marketplace jobs. Results arrive in your vault as a read-only delivery; downloads unlock when you accept it, or you send it back with a note. Marketplace hiring and payments exist in the cloud and data center editions only; on-premises installations do not include them.
For a moisture survey, write the post-sunset window, the dry-weather condition and the daytime colour flight into the job description and notes; the form's time preferences (morning, midday, afternoon, golden hour, flexible) cover daylight work. Omniris's Flyability score rates daylight hours; for the evening window, read the hourly forecast and the winds aloft on its Weather and Wind tabs.
The mission planner draws the flight over the roof and exports it for DJI Pilot 2, DJI Fly, Litchi, QGroundControl or as a boundary for other flight apps. A Grid with the camera straight down is the pattern for both the colour map and the temperature map; Crosshatch, Perimeter and Orbit are for 3D models and facades. You set the detail you want as a ground sample distance and the planner works out the height and spacing, warns above 400 ft, and can follow the terrain. The Mission Planning paper covers it in full.
Every saved mission is checked against FAA airspace along its whole route, floor by floor, and the planner works out what to file through LAANC when authorization is needed. The built-in Part 107 pre-flight checklist includes the item for lighting and training for night or twilight flight, which an after-sunset survey depends on; it is answered on the job, from the phone if need be, and once complete it stays in the job record and cannot be answered again or deleted.15
Safety stays on the roof. A drone shortens the time people spend near unprotected edges, especially at night, but cores, repairs and hands-on inspection still put them there, under the fall-protection rules that apply.13
A roof survey has several audiences: the owner, the facility team, the roofing contractor who will price the repair, sometimes an adjuster or a manufacturer's representative. The Sharing and Delivery paper covers every path; the ones roofing uses most are below.
| Recipient | Path | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| Owner or facility manager without an account | Public link | The folder as a gallery, maps that zoom, the 3D model and 360° panoramas, in any browser; view-only or view and download; optional password and expiry; findings included if you tick it |
| Anyone who should look at the roof over time | Site Navigator link | Chosen dates and layers of one site, including thermal maps they can read temperatures from, compare by eye and measure on; nothing else in your vault |
| A colleague or client with Omniris | Sharing code | Read-only or full access to a folder, a frozen snapshot, or a transfer of the files |
| The client of a pilot's job | Delivery | A read-only snapshot in their vault, findings included, downloads unlocked on acceptance |
| A work-order or asset system | Findings API and webhooks | Findings with location, status, severity and evidence, read and updated by your software; signed messages the moment a finding changes |
| A construction team | Procore or Autodesk Forma | Files sent to the project (Procore Documents, or a Forma project folder); findings kept in step with Procore Observations or Forma Issues in both directions |
| GIS | Publish to ArcGIS; exports | Maps as hosted imagery layers in your own ArcGIS portal; findings as GeoJSON, CSV or KML; a STAC catalog of a job's results |
Every download, in the app or through a public link, is written into the custody history of each file it contains, and a visitor opening a file through a public link is recorded there as a view.
Omniris runs in four places: the Omniris cloud on Microsoft Azure, the Omniris cloud on Google Cloud, the Omniris data center edition, and on-premises at your own site. The thermal pipeline, anomaly detection, the report, findings, 3D models, 360° panoramas and the custody record work the same way in all four. A portfolio owner who must keep building imagery in-house — a campus, a government estate, a critical facility — can run Omniris on its own hardware, with mesh and splat processing on its own NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards. The marketplace, payments and pilot payouts are part of the cloud and data center editions only; on-premises, your own pilots fly and upload the work.
A roof survey is relied on in warranty, purchase and insurance decisions, so the scope of its results is stated plainly:
Industry facts in this paper are numbered to these sources. Figures that come only from a vendor or an insurer are marked as such in the text.