Who We Are and What We Do
Northern Drone LLC is an FAA Part 107 certified unmanned aircraft operator based in West Fargo, North Dakota. We provide geophysical and aerial data-acquisition services: LiDAR mapping, drone-mounted ground penetrating radar, sonar bathymetry, photogrammetric volumetrics, multispectral imaging, thermal inspection, and 3D scanning. Our deliverables are data products — point clouds, terrain models, radar sections, depth maps, volume reports, imagery, and interpretation reports.
What "Survey" Means on This Site
Across the geospatial and geophysical industries, "survey" is the standard word for a systematic data-collection campaign — a GPR survey, a bathymetric survey, an aerial survey. That is the sense in which the word is used everywhere on this website. It refers to measuring and mapping physical conditions with instruments, not to the licensed practice of land surveying.
What We Are Not
Northern Drone is not a licensed professional land surveying firm and is not a licensed professional engineering firm. We do not establish or certify property boundaries, easements, or rights-of-way; we do not produce certified plats, legal descriptions, or boundary surveys; and we do not offer engineering design or sealed engineering opinions. Where state law reserves an activity or a deliverable to a licensed professional land surveyor or professional engineer, that work is performed by, or under the responsible charge of, licensed professionals.
How Certified Work Gets Done
Many projects need both things: efficient airborne data acquisition and a licensed professional's certification. Our standing model handles that directly — when a project requires survey-grade certification or sealed deliverables, we perform the field data acquisition in partnership with licensed professional land surveyors or engineers, who review, take responsible charge of, and stamp the final product. You get the speed and coverage of the aircraft and the authority of the license, without hiring twice.
Excavation Safety
No service on this site replaces the statutory one-call locate. Always contact 811 before any excavation, on every project, without exception. Private utility locating and GPR mapping are damage-prevention and design tools that complement — never substitute for — the 811 process.
Questions
If a scope requires licensure and you are not sure which side of the line it falls on, ask us directly — we would rather sort that out before mobilization than after. Contact us and we will give you a straight answer, including "that portion needs a licensed surveyor, and here is how we handle it."