Bells Beach — Coastal Monitoring & Drainage Survey | Case Study

Interactive 3D

Explore the site in 3D.

The full survey rendered as an interactive 3D point cloud — pan, rotate and zoom through the coastline. A textured 3D mesh model is also hosted on Pix4D Cloud.

View the 3D mesh model on Pix4D →

↺ Click & drag to orbit · Scroll to zoom · Touch enabled

One flight, a full deliverable set

The Bells Beach reserve combines steep vegetated dune, beach face, access tracks and car-park infrastructure — a site where terrain, drainage and shoreline all matter. A single drone mobilisation captured the whole area, which was then processed into a georeferenced dataset and a suite of analytical map products.

Every output shares one coordinate framework (GDA2020) and one survey date, so the maps read together and the whole set can be re-flown and directly compared in future.

LocationBells Beach

Surf Coast, VIC

Survey area18.35 ha

183,458 m²

Ground resolution1.9 cm/px

EPSG:7855 · GDA2020

Outputs8 maps + 3D

Mapping, drainage & coastal

Base mapping

The foundation layers — a high-resolution aerial image, the bare-earth terrain model and elevation contours across the whole reserve.

Site overview digital orthomosaic of the Bells Beach survey area — Site overview — high-resolution georeferenced orthomosaic.

Terrain elevation model of Bells Beach with colour-graded heights and contours — Terrain elevation — colour-graded ground height (m AHD) with hillshade.

Contour map of Bells Beach overlaid on the aerial photograph — Contour map — 1 m contours (bold every 5 m) over the aerial.

Terrain & drainage analysis

Derived layers that turn the terrain model into practical guidance — where water collects, where it flows, how steep the ground is and which areas tend to stay damp.

Slope analysis map of Bells Beach classified into steepness bands — Slope analysis — steepness bands for runoff and erosion risk.

Water pooling analysis of Bells Beach with ranked wet spots — Water pooling — modelled ponding with ranked wet spots by volume.

Drainage flow path map of Bells Beach showing overland flow routes — Drainage flow paths — modelled overland flow and major routes.

Terrain wetness index of Bells Beach over the aerial photograph — Wetness index — broad wet / dry tendency across the site.

Coastal monitoring

Fixed shore-perpendicular transects at 30 m spacing along the coast. Because the transect positions never change between surveys, repeat flights measure exactly how far the shoreline has moved.

From drone capture to decision-ready maps

The value of a survey like this isn't the raw imagery — it's the set of maps that let a land manager act. From a single georeferenced dataset we produce base mapping, terrain and drainage analysis, and coastal-monitoring layers, all sharing one coordinate framework so they can be read side by side and re-flown for comparison.

Repeatable by design

Every output is georeferenced to GDA2020 and archived against the survey date. A repeat flight at any future interval — seasonal, annual or after a storm event — drops straight onto the same framework, so shoreline movement, sand loss and drainage change can be measured rather than estimated.

Maps are derived from remote-sensing data and are indicative unless independently verified against survey control. Drainage and pooling outputs are modelled from terrain shape only. This deliverable is not a substitute for advice from a licensed surveyor or drainage engineer.

Bells Beach — coastal monitoring & drainage survey.