For Sonto, a leading Queensland surveying firm specializing in residential and commercial surveys, the mathematics of growth were unforgiving. With traditional total station workflows yielding 1-2 residential property surveys per day - and occasionally requiring return visits when sites proved particularly challenging - they faced a fundamental constraint.
"It takes a long time to train someone into a really confident spot in the team," explains Adam Wylie from Sonto. "In Australia, we aren’t producing enough people with those skills, and we weren't able to effectively utilize the talented survey crew we had in the best way."
The pressure was mounting from all sides. Design firms needed faster turnarounds. Builders had construction schedules to meet. And clients would ultimately choose speed when needing to select a survey firm.
"Speed is a killer feature," Adam reflects candidly. "Even if you have an extremely loyal customer base, which we do, you are still at the mercy of 'I would love to work with you, but I need this done in a timeframe you can't meet. So I'm going to have to go elsewhere.' We hate to lose work that way."
The limitations of traditional ground survey are well known in the industry - and they compound. Urban residential sites rarely offer clear sightlines. Trees, fences, existing structures, and terrain all conspire to force multiple total station setups - often adding 15-20 minutes or more to field time. A challenging site could easily consume an entire day for a single property. On occasion, field crews would need to return the following day, disrupting the week's schedule.
The traditional workflow demanded highly trained personnel who understood total station operation, control networks, measurement redundancy, and surveying principles that took months or years to master. This created a double bind: the work required expensive, scarce talent, yet the methodology prevented those skilled professionals from operating at scale.
"In a worst case you might be like 'I budgeted for this one job a day, I'm going back the next day and it's blown the rest of my schedule out,'" Adam recalls. "You're in that realm where one to two would be a great result."
Sonto had been exploring laser scanning solutions for years, testing terrestrial tripod-based systems and various mobile scanning platforms. The goal was clear: find the right balance of accuracy, field workflow efficiency, and pickup speed to deploy laser scanning at scale across more jobs.
But reproducibility remained the stumbling block. Mobile scanning solutions often produced variable results depending on site conditions or operator technique. For an industry built on the fundamental principle of repeatable, verifiable measurements, inconsistency was a dealbreaker.
"It needs to be repeatable. You need to be able to do it the same way, reproduce the result every time, "Adam emphasizes. "Typically in the past using mobile scanning, it wasn't as reproducible as you may like. You could see variance in different spots each time."
What drew Sonto to Emesent's Hovermap was the robustness of its SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithm - technology that promised "everyday repeatable and accurate" results without requiring GPS or external reference systems.
Still, questions remained. Would the device actually deliver the claimed accuracy? Could it integrate into their existing workflows? Would it meet the standards required for inclusion in official survey plans?
Sonto approached the adoption systematically, applying the same rigor they would to any new surveying instrument. Using their trusted total station fleet, they established control networks and tested Hovermap repeatedly across multiple environments, conditions, and field workflows over a 3-4 week period.
"We pretty much compress that testing process down into the 3 to 4 week range," Adam explains. "Some of that was a couple of sessions of doing that testing before we used it on customer facing work."
The results became apparent quickly - Hovermap was delivering accurate measurements while dramatically reducing field time. But three critical elements had to align before Sonto felt confident deploying it at scale:
"Once all of those tings clicked together, we felt that the time in the field and the office saved was great enough that it was an unlock for us to put it to work in more places," Adam notes.
Sonto deployed Emesent's Hovermap STX, a uniquely versatile SLAM-based LiDAR scanner that can be mounted on drones, vehicles, backpacks, or used handheld. For residential surveys, Sonto primarily uses handheld operation, with occasional deployment on telescopic poles for roof capture and drones for larger sites or aerial perspectives.
The technology combines:
Hovermap point cloud data is then uploaded to Emesent Aura, an intuitive platform that streamlines processing, visualization, and analysis. Automated georeferencing, filtering, and point cloud enhancement features combine with reliable, high-quality processing to deliver accurate results rapidly. For Sonto, the ability to process locally and export seamlessly to downstream CAD and BIM workflows proved essential.
Sonto's residential survey workflow now follows a streamlined pattern:
The transformation was immediate. Training time dropped from months to weeks for scan technicians. Equipment setup became plug-and-play. Field coverage became comprehensive by default rather than dependent on line-of-sight.
Sonto's scanning teams now confidently complete 5-6 medium-sized residential lot surveys daily - a 3-5x increase in capacity. The improvement cascades through their entire operation.
"We can pull the instrument out of the bag and literally cut hours out of jobs," Adam explains. Field time that previously extended across full days now compresses into focused sessions, freeing experienced survey crews for higher-value work and more complex problem-solving.
The comprehensive data capture eliminates nervousness felt by team members: "Have I met the brief? Have I picked up all the detail? Am I going to get a request to head back out to site and fill in some data that I may not have quite clocked on to what the customer needed?" With Hovermap, coverage is assured before leaving site.
Rather than offering laser scanning as an add-on, Sonto now provides comprehensive point clouds and 360° photospheres as standard survey outputs. This shift created what Adam calls "network effects" - as designers, architects, and engineers received higher-quality, more comprehensive measurement data that fit naturally into their workflows, adoption accelerated organically.
"Will folks go out necessarily and always ask for it on every job? No. But by providing it as a new default, we're seeing the adoption and value being derived from scanning data really go up for our customers."
"What looks different for us at the moment is the ease of use of the solution. You know you've hit the mark on introducing something new when different members of the team start looking at jobs and going 'You know what, I need to reach for the scanner today. This is going to help me, this is the right tool for the job.' This isn't a niche whizzbang thing, this is a trusted piece of kit that is now becoming second nature."
- Adam Wylie, Sonto
Sonto's investment in Emesent technology expanded from one unit to three Hovermaps in a period of just 6 months, reflecting growing confidence and scaling operations. Today, four teams are trained and capable of running scanning jobs daily, with three typically deployed on any given day conducting residential surveys across Queensland.
Geographic expansion: Coverage now extends from the Gold Coast through Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast, enabled by the combination of increased capacity and faster project turnaround.
Workforce transformation: The ability to train scan technicians in significantly less time than traditional total station surveyors means Sonto can deploy talent more strategically. Licensed surveyors focus on complex cadastral work and difficult problem-solving, while scan technicians handle high-volume residential data capture with confidence.
Competitive positioning: Speed, comprehensive data, and consistent quality created differentiation in a competitive market without racing to the bottom on price. Clients who experienced the enhanced deliverables - especially design firms working in BIM environments - increasingly came to expect and request the scanning data.
ROI realization: "The quickest way we assess return on a new instrument investment is: does it allow us to perform more survey work with the same level of quality, or better quality, in less time?" Adam explains. "Can we free up our experienced, high-value survey field crews and get them doing more of the right work?" By that measure, ROI appeared immediately. After the initial 3-4 week workflow shakedown period, field time savings materialized from day one. The ability to complete 5-6 surveys daily versus 1-2 previously meant each Hovermap effectively multiplied team capacity by 3-5x.
Perhaps the most telling indicator of success came not from metrics but from team behavior. When field crews began independently deciding to deploy Hovermap based on site assessment - treating it as a natural first choice rather than a special-case tool - Sonto knew the technology had become embedded in their operational DNA.
"It's becoming second nature for the team to pull out in the right circumstance," Adam observes. The nervousness around adopting new technology gave way to confidence, and eventually to preference.
For clients, the change was equally profound. Designers and architects who previously waited weeks for vectorized survey deliverables could now access point cloud data and 360° imagery within days, allowing them to begin building models and making design decisions far earlier in project timelines.
"Customers can be modeling buildings 5+ days before the approved plan is even issued," Adam notes, describing the acceleration of the entire design workflow enabled by faster, more comprehensive survey data.
With three Hovermaps operating successfully and residential survey operations scaled to 5-6 properties daily, Sonto had solved their capacity constraint. So why participate in beta testing Emesent GX1?
"Any opportunity we can work with our key vendors to help give input on what matters for us as surveyors is helpful and useful to us," Adam explains. "We're always looking for: Are we chasing the best use of technology? Are we using these tools in the most efficient way?"
But beyond the opportunity to influence product development, specific friction points remained in the Hovermap workflow - small inefficiencies that, multiplied across dozens of scans weekly, represented meaningful room for improvement.
External cables and batteries: Separate power management for the scanner and GoPro camera added coordination complexity
Separate photography system: GoPro operation, settings, battery life, and storage created multiple potential failure points
Integration friction: Managing multiple devices increased the likelihood of small mistakes that could require site revisits
"Sometimes coordinating these different elements of the instrument was difficult," Adam recalls. "These are all little things that can bring a field crew unstuck in that if you don't manage all of those elements, you can find 'Hey, I need to repeat that job.'"
For a business conducting 60+ scans monthly, even small improvements in field reliability translated to significant operational value.
GX1 represents the evolution of mobile scanning for the surveying and AEC community, with integrated cameras, internal batteries, simplified workflows, and enhanced 360° imagery - all while maintaining the robust SLAM and high accuracy that professionals demand.
Sonto deployed the GX1 prototype across 6-7 residential projects during the beta testing period, primarily using survey pole mounting at 1.8-2 meters height. The testing ran parallel to their standard Hovermap STX workflows, allowing direct comparison of performance, data quality, and field efficiency.
Integrated design: Batteries moved internal to the unit. External cables eliminated. Single storage system. The GX1 represented a fundamental simplification - fewer components, fewer steps, fewer potential failure modes.
Four integrated cameras: Rather than managing a separate GoPro, the GX1's built-in camera system operates automatically with the scanner, removing calibration procedures and the risk of battery, settings, or storage errors.
Elevated camera position: With cameras mounted above the operator's head height during pole-mounted scanning, 360° imagery captured the environment without operator obstruction.
"It was just a slicker unit where you were getting even a step further above the current generation of just being able to turn up on site, press go and start capturing data," Adam describes. "Still the same robust SLAM and great pickups as far as point cloud density goes, but packaged in a more thoughtful and efficient way."
Across all beta testing projects, Sonto experienced zero field failures with GX1. No incomplete scans. No calibration issues. No battery coordination problems. No separate camera device to manage.
"Being able to do the job once is pretty key for our teams," Adam emphasizes. "There isn't much worse than finishing a job and finding out that you have to redo a portion of it or all of it. It is extremely painful when that occurs."
The integrated design addressed multiple potential failure points - reducing the number of elements field crews must coordinate simultaneously and making the entire process more bulletproof.
~20% reduction in training time: The simplified workflow allows new scan technicians to reach proficiency faster. Five to six onboarding steps eliminated from the training process, letting team members "get up to speed quicker" while still achieving perfect colorization and highly accurate scan results every time.
Expected 30% reduction in field errors: By eliminating separate cameras, batteries, and storage systems, Sonto anticipates a 30% reduction in errors over the course of a year - errors that currently stem from coordinating multiple devices rather than operator technique.
"If you've got a busy day, you definitely want to be feeling like your tools are helping you get the right thing done and not punishing you for a small mistake or missing a step," Adam explains. "Sometimes the way to get to that is to simplify what needs to be done, which I think is what has happened here with the GX1 unit."
While the integrated design delivered immediate workflow benefits, the most impactful improvement emerged in output quality - specifically, the 360° photosphere imagery that Sonto delivers alongside point cloud data.
Sonto typically produces 600-700 photosphere images per residential scan, creating a comprehensive visual record that designers and architects use to understand materials, finishes, spatial context, and design intent. These images inform everything from BIM model material assignments to conceptual design decisions about space and feel.
But when the operator held the scanner in front of them during capture, they inevitably obscured portions of the 360° image—often the exact view a downstream user needed to see.
"As a customer using that data, if I click on a photo and I'm just trying to look at the back wall to check materials—you click on your photosphere, it pops open, and you're looking at the chest of the operator," Adam describes the frustration. "You turn around and then you find the other side of the camera is facing the wrong way. Now I need to go and hen peck around and find which photo is oriented in the right direction. It's frustrating."
With cameras positioned approximately 20 centimeters above the operator's head height during pole-mounted scanning, the GX1 virtually eliminates operator presence from imagery. Combined with four cameras providing higher resolution coverage, users now get clean, comprehensive 360° views from the majority of scan positions.
"What we're finding is that our customers can look at the photosphere imagery, click any one of our images, and be sure to see what they want to see," Adam explains. "If they're clicking at the position of the image, they're going to get a view of the subject that they want to assess. And in conjunction with that being higher resolution and more cameras with better lenses, they're also getting a better view of what they're trying to inspect."
"With the GX1 outputs folks will notice pretty quickly that 'hey there's been a change here.' We're getting those better quality 360° images. Our scan data is still great. There's some stronger and better detailed colorization as well. Between the better colorization, the same quality scan output and accurate results, and then the more detailed photospheres without the operator in them - folks will notice and I think we'll see them going 'Hey would you mind taking this instrument out? I want to make sure I get that next level data set."
— Adam Wylie, Sonto
The improvement extended beyond external clients to Sonto's own drafting team. Survey plan annotation- identifying garden bed materials, ground cover types, retaining wall construction, edging details - relies heavily on visual inspection. While colorized point clouds help, high-resolution photospheres provide essential context that informs accurate annotation.
"We do dive into the images and that ends up informing the annotation on our plans for our customers," Adam notes. For design firms working in Revit or ArchiCAD, the same principle applies when assigning materials to surfaces and part families in BIM models, or when conceptually informing design decisions about space, materiality, and atmosphere.
"Sometimes you can only get that from either being there, or next best thing, looking at it in a high-res 360 photo," Adam explains.
Sonto's rigorous testing confirmed that GX1 delivered the accuracy they required. Testing against ground control points and check shots with total station measurements, GX1 delivered 11mm RMSE - identical to Hovermap STX performance and well within their 20mm pass/fail threshold for residential surveys.
The elevated pole mounting (reaching approximately 3 meters height) provided a subtle coverage benefit, capturing slightly more points on higher features like roof profiles with reduced shadow effects. For low-set houses, this meant obtaining roof pitch data that might otherwise require a second scan or go uncaptured entirely.
"Just by virtue of it being on a 2+ meter survey pole, being able to extend it up and get up towards three meters of height, just means we're going to have points on roof pitches where otherwise we may not," Adam notes.
Point cloud density and overall data quality remained consistent with STX - the robust SLAM algorithm and sensor technology that made Hovermap successful carried forward into GX1 with refinements rather than compromises.
Throughout the beta testing, Sonto observed design decisions that reflected Emesent's focus on the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) surveying market.
"You can see that in how the GX1 has come together," Adam notes, highlighting several survey-specific enhancements:
Integrated RTK/GNSS correction: Built-in RTK capability gives survey crews more options for control workflows, potentially reducing or eliminating ground control point setup time on appropriate sites while maintaining accuracy.
Survey pole compatibility: The GX1 mounts naturally to standard survey poles (5/8" thread), fitting seamlessly into existing field equipment and workflows without requiring specialized adapters or mounting systems.
Workflow integration: The entire system - from field capture through processing to deliverable export -reflects an understanding of how surveyors actually work, reducing friction at every step.
"These are all elements that show us that there is a key focus on this product being a great fit for the AEC space," Adam concludes.
For Sonto, the expansion of their kit from total station to Hovermap to GX1 represents more than equipment upgrades - it reflects an ongoing commitment to leveraging technology that lets their talented survey teams operate at peak efficiency while delivering exceptional results to clients.
The transformation from 1-2 residential surveys daily to 5-6 unlocked growth that traditional hiring couldn't achieve. The shift from laser scanning as a special case to default deliverable changed client expectations and competitive positioning. And the evolution toward more integrated, reliable field equipment continues reducing friction that prevents field crews from focusing on what matters: capturing comprehensive, accurate site data.
“Without you guys, we wouldn't have been able to finish in time for our builders to continue. Big thanks for your help.”
- Ader, Sonto Client
"We're always looking for ways to improve our outputs and internal processes," Adam reflects. The partnership with Emesent - from early Hovermap adoption through GX1 beta testing - exemplifies that philosophy in action.
For surveying firms facing similar capacity constraints, talent shortages, or client pressure for faster turnarounds, Sonto's experience offers a clear message: mobile laser scanning with robust SLAM technology isn't just faster than traditional methods - it's a fundamental unlock for scaling operations without scaling problems.
Sonto provides comprehensive surveying services across Queensland, from the Gold Coast through Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast. Their work spans cadastral surveys, residential contour and detail surveys, commercial building surveys, and enabling digital design for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) community.
With 20 years of trusted survey experience, Sonto’s range of surveying services ushers in a new era of precision and efficiency for architects, designers, developers, and builders. They are dedicated to pushing boundaries, maintaining consistent excellence, and constantly exploring new ways to add value in an ever-evolving industry.
Visit Sonto at sonto.com.au
Emesent is a world-leader in drone autonomy, 3D SLAM-based LiDAR mapping, and data analytics. Our vision is to autonomously map the inaccessible. Founded in 2018, Emesent has customers across mining, construction, surveying, defense and other sectors in over 80 countries. Our flagship product, Hovermap, is a smart mobile scanning unit that combines advanced collision avoidance and autonomous flight technologies to map hazardous and GPS-denied environments. GX1 is Emesent’s solution for high accuracy and integrated technology - driven by AEC user feedback.