Automating drone-like video creation for real estate without actual drones

Our client Elidat specializes in creating drone-like real estate video presentations for properties such as houses, land, and forests. Their competitive edge lies in producing compelling videos without using drones, significantly reducing production costs and time.

The Challenge

The client was manually creating each video, a process that took hours and limited scalability. That obviously works only up until a certain point. Their goal was to automate this workflow and enable real estate agents to generate high-quality property videos in just minutes—directly from a web browser, without the need for technical skills or professional equipment like drones which could take days. 

Key Business Needs

• Eliminate time-consuming manual video editing
• Reduce the cost and complexity associated with drone footage
• Deliver a seamless, self-service experience for real estate agents
• Integrate map and land registry data for geographic accuracy

Our Solution

We developed a web application that allows real estate agents to create professional video presentations with just a few clicks. The agent inputs basic property information, and the system handles the rest -> from map rendering to video generation and payment.

Core Features

• Parcel number input and automatic data fetching from the Czech land registry
• Uploading of property photos and textual details
• Map rendering and custom drawing of parcel boundaries
• Animated zoom effect from aerial view to property
• Instant video preview
• Quick online payment and downloadable video delivery

Technologies Used

This project required several interesting integrations to function, each providing a different part of the final product.

• Next.js for Full-stack framework for app development
• Vercel for Hosting and deployment of the web application
• Creatomate for Script-based video generation with map and photo assets
• Mapbox for High-resolution aerial maps
• Sharp for Server-side image processing and overlay generation
• ČÚZK API for Czech Republic land registry data for spatial accuracy
• Stripe - Secure online payment processing

Business Impact

The automated system allows agents to create property videos independently, quickly, and affordably—removing the bottleneck of manual work. The delivery shortened from days to minutes!

Automated Process

The video creation workflow is now:

• Enter property data (parcels, photos, agent info)
• Map and boundary data are fetched automatically
• A video scenario is scripted and rendered
• The agent previews the result
• Payment is completed
• The final video is delivered

Implementation challenges

While this project is extremely fun to work on, it has its own challenges.

First one and one of the most challenging aspects was recalculating coordinates and combining different data sources - high-resolution aerial maps (Mapbox), parcel vectors (ČÚZK land registry data) and äccurate overlay of boundaries on map tiles.

Another one was video rendering limitations. Creatomate imposed limitations on maximum image resolution, affecting our ability to create deep zoom animations. 

We overcame this by:

• Splitting the zoom into multiple lower-resolution steps
• Carefully sequencing them to ensure a smooth visual transition
• Offloading image generation and manipulation using Sharp

And the last one was platform constraints. Vercel’s serverless environment limits long-running functions, so we optimized image generation for performance and broke the video generation pipeline into modular steps to fit within execution time limits.

Key Takeaways

• Highly customized and visually engaging applications can be delivered by also integrating best-in-class third-party tools.
• This project highlights our ability to go beyond typical business systems, building interactive, self-service platforms for niche use cases with great value.
• It serves as a showcase project for both technical innovation and visual quality delivering the maximum possible within the constraints of current tools and options on the market.

Results & What’s Next

The platform has successfully launched, and the feedback from the client has been overwhelmingly positive. Real estate agents can now create high-quality, professional video presentations in just a few minutes—without relying on drones or video editing experts.

The new platform has not only reduced production time dramatically but also unlocked a scalable, self-service model that aligns perfectly with the client’s vision for the future.And we are not stopping here. We have a full pipeline of features to be developed based on the feedback collected by the client.

Looking to automate a manual process or launch a digital product of your own?

Let’s explore how we can help!