What is a Composite Survey?
Propeller's Composite Builder combines multiple drone surveys into a single, up-to-date map — so you can measure and track changes across your site without re-flying the entire area.
Stop re-flying your whole site every time something changes. Composite Builder lets you merge multiple drone surveys — including image datasets from separate flights — into a single, measurable map. Track progress, take accurate measurements, and generate reports more frequently without capturing the entire area each time.
Upload and combine smaller, targeted surveys or image sets over time to build a complete picture of your site. You can also:
- Crop composites to remove unnecessary areas and keep your data clean
- Duplicate composites to test different configurations without touching the original
- Add missed or newly captured images by uploading them as a new dataset and merging them in — your site data stays current no matter when new information comes in
Permission required: Users must have Process level permissions to create composite surveys.
| Flight 1 | Flight 2 |
| Composite survey |
Ways to merge surveys into a composite
Option 1: From the survey picker
- Click the survey dropdown menu and select Create composite
- Fill in the composite details and click CREATE
| 💡 Tip: Composites automatically generates a crop boundary when merging surveys. In some cases — particularly when multiple flights are stitched together — this boundary may not align perfectly, resulting in visible seams or uneven edges. If that happens, manually adjusting the crop will give you a cleaner, more accurate result. |
- This opens the Survey Explorer. Select the surveys you want to include, then click MERGE
Option 2: From the Survey Explorer
- Select the surveys you want to combine directly from the Survey Explorer
- Click the three-dot menu and choose Create new composite
- Fill in the composite details and click CREATE
To modify the stack order, click the Configure button from within the Surveys section of the Survey tab.
Modifying the stack order
Once your composite is created, you can adjust how surveys are layered. From the Survey tab, click Configure within the Surveys section. In the window that opens, you can combine orthophotos and/or terrain, toggle layers on or off, and drag and drop surveys to reorder them.
| ℹ️ Note: Modifying the stack order is not available in DirtMate sites. |
Viewing a composite survey
In the platform
Once created, load your composite into the platform by selecting it from the survey dropdown menu. Composite surveys are also visible in the Measurement report and PDF Maps.
In the mobile app
Composite surveys are visible in the Propeller mobile app. Log in and select your composite from the survey dropdown menu.
Via Crew
Share composite surveys with teammates using a Crew link. Click the Crew icon in the left sidebar, then select CREATE CREW LINK. See our article on how to share Crew links for more details.
Via PDF Maps
To export a PDF Map of your site, click the OUTPUTS tab and select PDF Map from the Maps category.
What can I do with a composite survey?
Measure
Every measurement tool in the platform works with composite surveys, including:
- Measuring a composite just like any other dataset
- Adding designs to the composite and measuring against them
- Measuring across partial survey boundaries — keep in mind that accuracy depends on the underlying surveys and where the stitched boundary falls
| ℹ️ Note on zoom levels: Maximum zoom level varies by survey based on ground sample distance (GSD), which is affected by drone type, camera, and flight altitude. If surveys in a composite were flown at different altitudes, you may notice differences in zoom levels across the map. This is expected behavior and not an error. |
Export files
You can export a range of file types from your composite, including:
- Orthophoto via email — delivers a GeoTIFF, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, or KML to your inbox
- DEM via email — delivers a Digital Elevation Model in GeoTIFF format, including any terrain cleanups
- Outline — downloads a DXF or KML directly to your computer
- Surface — downloads a DXF or TTM (including terrain cleanups) directly to your computer
- Contours via email — delivers contours in DXF or Shapefile format with elevation lines, including terrain cleanups
| ℹ️ Note: In composite surveys, file exports are only available through the measurement options above — not through the OUTPUTS tab or Files section as they are in original surveys. |
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