Because of the peculiarities of digital imagery (compared to conventional aerial film photography) a sophisticated rolling map navigational program called PhotoNav was developed to control the system in the aircraft.

 This program captures the GPS position, tip, roll and heading of the aircraft continously 5 times per second. Thse data are used later in the automatic mosaicing of the images. The camera operator can use a flat panel, sunlight readable display to monitor operations while actual camera firing is completely automated to get perfect overlaps. The program also outputs navigational information to the pilot via an LCD display.

It is not anticipated that this sytem would ever replace conventional mapping cameras because the digital image captures a much smaller area than a mapping camera and this sort of digital camera was never designed with the accuracy requirements of photogrammetry in mind.

It is,however, a very useful compliment to the mapping cameras for the following reasons : There is no film, no developing, no printing and no scanning of images required and that represents a huge cost saving. The system is small and easily transportable and can be fitted to virtually any aircraft or helicopter without rendering it useless for other work. Imagery is always acquired in colour and it can be digitally "tweaked" (for example to remove cloud shadow). The final product can be delivered within a few days or even the same day if no further post-processing is required.

These factors combine to make the economics of digital mosaics very attractive even over quite large areas PROVIDING full mapping accuracy and/or height information is not required. It can be considered comparable in accuracy to the limitations of the high resolution (1m pixel) satellite imagery that has recently come onto the market except that (at least in southern Africa) it is considerably cheaper. The resolution, however, is much better than that offered by the satellites.

The limitations of accuracy and heighting on digital imagery are currently the subject of further research by the firm.

In 2002 the firm was engaged in a contract for the South African Department of Agriculture to build a more advanced multi spectral version of this system. This system featured two cameras, one DCS 420 and one DCS 420CIR (colour infra-red). These cameras were permanently mounted in the nose of an Aerospatial Squirrel B-2 helicopter and are used for land cover monitoring for overgrazing and alien vegetation infestations.