Inside A Palace Digital Twin Built With The DJI Matrice 400

How do you record every tile, cornice and roof line of a protected historic building without putting it at risk? The Municipality of Oeiras in Portugal answered that question at the Marquis of Pombal’s palace, and its approach offers useful lessons for anyone who looks after complex buildings.

A digital record that outlives the survey

The palace was home to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal, the statesman behind Portugal’s great 18th-century reforms. Construction began around 1759, alongside the estate, gardens and wine cellar that make up the heritage site today.

For Alexandra Maia, Director of the Cartography and Cadastre Department at the municipality, the palace is the first step towards something bigger, a digital twin of Oeiras’s heritage and culture. “3D models allow us to digitally preserve heritage for future generations,” she explains.

Planning a careful flight over a sensitive site

Maia describes the project as “very demanding”. The team needed fine detail on ornamental features, and the site sits in an area with a lot of airspace restrictions.

Planning started on the ground with a site analysis, a review of those restrictions and RTK ground points. RTK (real-time kinematic) positioning corrects GPS data to centimetre-level accuracy, so the finished model lines up precisely with the real world.

Why the DJI Matrice 400 suits heritage capture

The team paired the DJI Matrice 400 with the DJI Zenmuse P1, a full-frame photogrammetry camera. Flights were planned in DJI Pilot 2 using an oblique capture strategy, where the camera shoots at an angle rather than straight down. That angle is what records the façades, not just the rooftops.

Altitude, speed and camera angles were tuned to keep data density high and leave as few hidden areas as possible. Across several flights, the drone covered:

• A survey area of around 76,000 m²
  
• A flight distance of roughly 20 km
  
• About 1 hour 7 minutes of data capture
  
• Around 3,652 images

Finishing the model in DJI Modify

Raw photogrammetry rarely comes out perfect, especially around roofs and intricate decoration. The team used DJI Modify, DJI’s 3D model editing software, to close gaps in the mesh (the 3D surface of the model), remove unwanted objects and improve textures.

Their priorities were geometric accuracy, texture quality and faithful architectural detail, with particular care over the façades and the azulejos, Portugal’s famous decorative tiles.

From documentation to everyday maintenance

The result is a complete digital record of the buildings in a single model. The team can already spot areas of greater wear, plan maintenance more effectively and use the model as a foundation for future restoration work, or even physical scale models.

The same workflow suits UK councils, estates and asset owners managing listed buildings, churches or civic landmarks. Coptrz supplies the Matrice 400 and Zenmuse P1, with training to help your team get the most from both.

FAQs

What is a heritage digital twin?

It’s a detailed, accurate 3D model of a historic site that can be used for documentation, maintenance planning and long-term preservation.

Which drone and camera were used to map the palace?

The Municipality of Oeiras used the DJI Matrice 400 with the Zenmuse P1, flying an oblique capture mission planned in DJI Pilot 2.

What does DJI Modify do?

DJI Modify is 3D model editing software. Here it was used to close mesh gaps, remove unwanted elements and improve textures.

Final thoughts

Thinking about a digital twin for your own buildings? Start with the DJI Matrice 400, available from Coptrz.