Survey video to bird's-eye road scan
RoadSense turns the video your survey vehicle already records into a top-down map of the whole carriageway, at the finest detail the footage holds. Patches, potholes and cracking are there to inspect, each at its place on the road.
Look closer
Two stretches of the R33 scan at full resolution, 4.25 mm per pixel. Drag to pan and scroll to zoom; on a phone, pinch with two fingers. Whatever you do on one side happens on the other: the original scan on the left, the negative of the same pixels on the right.
The negative is a viewing aid made from the same pixels: inverted, contrast raised and dark markings softened. Nothing is added or removed.
What it is
A bird's-eye road scan is a georeferenced map of the road surface, built from ordinary survey video. Every frame is projected onto the road and stitched along the GPS track, so the result reads like an aerial photograph of the carriageway, taken from a few metres up.
Figures from the R33 S13 production scan of 1 November 2026.
Why it matters
Every defect, in place
A forward view hides what is beside and under the vehicle. The scan shows the full lane and shoulder from above, with each defect at its chainage.
No extra drive
The scan comes from the video of the survey you already run, alongside the profiler readings and the frames named every 5 m.
Detail you can defend
The map keeps the camera's native detail, so a reviewer can zoom in on fine cracking instead of guessing from a blurred frame.
One position for everything
Video frame, scan, route map and measured readings move together under one cursor, so evidence and numbers always agree.
How it works
Capture
The survey vehicle records front, side and rear GoPro video with GPS, during the normal survey drive.
Calibrate per camera
Each camera's mounting angle and height is stored against its serial number. A rear camera is placed behind the vehicle and a side camera along its line of sight. The vehicle itself is masked out.
Project and stitch
On RoadSense's own GPU server, every frame is warped onto the road surface and the closest clear view of each spot is kept, along the GPS track.
Keep native detail
The scanner measures how much detail the footage actually holds and renders the map at that zoom. No detail is thrown away and none is invented.
Review
The scan opens in the RoadSense platform beside the video and the profiler readings, for the assessor to inspect and rate.
Standards
TMH 9 visual assessment
The scan is evidence for the assessor. Ratings are made in the RoadSense Visual Assessor, which follows COTO draft TMH 9 (2016).
TMH 13 from the same drive
The profiler data of the same survey is processed for roughness and rutting reporting to TMH 13, Automated Road Condition Assessments (COTO, Committee Draft Final, May 2016).
Engineer sign-off
Survey reports are signed off by a registered Professional Engineer (Pr Eng, ECSA).
What the scan is not: it shows what the camera saw, and the assessor decides what each mark is. The negative close-ups in the film are a viewing aid made from the same pixels; no detail is added.
Questions
What is a bird's-eye road scan?
A georeferenced, top-down map of the carriageway made from the survey vehicle's video. Each frame is projected onto the road surface and stitched along the GPS track, so every patch, pothole or crack sits at its real position and chainage.
How much detail does the scan keep?
The scanner picks the finest map zoom the footage supports. On the R33 survey it chose zoom 25: 4.25 mm per pixel over an 11.3 km track, with 11.7 m of road width covered per pass.
Which cameras can be used?
The survey vehicle's own GoPro cameras: front, rear and side. Each camera's mounting angle and height is held per camera serial number, so a rear camera is placed behind the vehicle and a side camera along its line of sight.
Does the scan replace visual assessment?
No. It gives the assessor better evidence. Defects are identified and rated by the assessor, to TMH 9, in the RoadSense Visual Assessor. The scan, the video frame and the measured readings stay linked by position.
How is the scan positioned on the road?
Along the survey's GNSS track. In the RoadSense platform one cursor ties the video frame, the scan, the route map and the processed measurements to the same position.
Film transcript
No narration; music only. On-screen text, in order: From video to surface detail. Survey video. Bird's-eye scan. Follow the road. Select the surface. Inspect the evidence. Patches. In context. Original scan. Enhanced negative. Same location. Same imagery. More visible detail. Potholes. Up close. Back to the road. Cracking. In fine detail. See more in every survey. Explore the platform.
See your roads from above
Talk to us about seeing your own roads from above, in the RoadSense platform.
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