Low-flying planes and unusual markings on the ground will be seen as an aerial survey of the Island takes place next month.

The Bermuda Mapping Project is hoped to provide accurate geological data of the Island.

Specialist survey aircraft will be used to take aerial photographs of the Island using a camera mounted in the fuselage.

The project was commissioned by Ministry of Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy.

A Ministry spokeswoman said: “The aeroplane will fly up and down the Island at a relatively low altitude, taking a series of photographs of the ground.

“This stage will begin early next month and hence the Ministry would like to advise the public in advance that there is no need to be alarmed by the low-flying aircraft.”

Information from the photographs will then be extracted and used to create a digital map of Bermuda. In order to aid the process, a series of large white targets will be painted on the ground to orient and scale the photographs and help with accurately connecting the data.

Senior land surveyor Peter Hopkin said: “While many of these targets have been placed on government or public land, inevitably some needed to be placed on private land, and the Ministry is very grateful to those land owners who have graciously agreed to allow us to paint targets on their property.

“This aerial survey is the culmination of seven years’ work to upgrade Bermuda’s national reference system for modern use.

“There is a high and rapidly increasing demand for digital data for use with geographic information systems (GIS) both within Government and from the private sector.”

The mapping data will replace previous information gathered in 2003.

Since then, more than 1,200 addresses have been built, while other buildings such as the former Club Med resort and Sonesta Beach Resort have been torn down.

The entire project is expected to cost around $260,000, with the data being used by Government for future projects and available for purchase by members of the public.