Case Study: Deakin University measures coastal erosion volumes with Pix4D drone mapping

Storm bite on sandy beaches: erosion volume measurement

Deakin University’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Center of Integrative Ecology needed a better way to measure how a major storm had altered a sandy beach on the open coast of Victoria, Australia. They worked with Pix4D, using Pix4Dmapper and drone-based aerial mapping to capture high-resolution imagery before and after the storm and assess coastal erosion.

Pix4D processed the drone images into georeferenced orthomosaics and digital surface models, which the team compared to calculate sand movement across the beach face. The approach delivered centimeter-scale detail and sub-five-centimeter accuracy, enabling reliable estimates of erosion and deposition volumes over 22.4 hectares, with only about 40 minutes of flight time per survey.

Deakin University