CASE C36 · US · 2026
Stacy Witbeck: standardised drone and ground reality capture across 86 US rail-corridor sites
US rail contractor Stacy Witbeck has standardised drone and ground reality capture across 86 rail-corridor construction sites. It says this reduces site driving on long alignments. Time and cost savings are not quantified, and aerial capture alone could not record track and at-grade conditions.
| Owner | Transit agencies (not named) |
| Provider | Stacy Witbeck (heavy civil rail contractor) |
| Location | California, United States (e.g. Los Angeles Sixth Street Viaduct, Van Nuys Boulevard) |
| Aircraft | DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise with RTK |
| Sensors | RGB photogrammetry, ground 360° capture |
Before
Conventional survey equipment and a lot of driving, which does not scale to 30–150-mile alignments.
With drones
110 in-house pilots fly track alignments, crossings and material stockpiles; ground capture from a truck covers track and at-grade conditions drones cannot see.
Outcomes
| Metric | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| programme scale | 86 sites, 5,594 flights, 1,048 maps and 1,204 design overlays | Reported |
| ground mapping | about 30 miles mapped from a truck on one design-build job, avoiding designer site visits | Reported |
| time / cost / safety | not quantified | Reported |
Caveats & limits
- Software vendor (DroneDeploy) promotional story; no accuracy, cost or schedule baseline.
- This is construction-phase reality capture of rail corridors rather than condition inspection of operating track.
- Aerial capture alone could not document track and at-grade conditions; ground capture was required. Airspace and hardware rules are tight on large projects.
Sources
- How Stacy Witbeck standardized reality capture across every rail corridor they buildDroneDeploy Full text read
Sources checked: 2026-10-22