Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

DOI 10.1007/s12518-013-0120-x

ORIGINAL PAPER

UAV for 3D mapping applications: a review

Francesco Nex & Fabio Remondino

Received: 17 December 2012 / Accepted: 14 October 2013 / Published online: 8 November 2013
# Società Italiana di Fotogrammetria e Topografia (SIFET) 2013

Abstract Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms are UAV is used commonly in the geomatics community, but also
nowadays a valuable source of data for inspection, other terms like drone, remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), remotely
surveillance, mapping, and 3D modeling issues. As UAVs operated aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS),
can be considered as a low-cost alternative to the classical micro-aerial vehicles, unmanned combat air vehicle, small
manned aerial photogrammetry, new applications in the short- UAV (SUAV), low altitude deep penetration UAV, low altitude
and close-range domain are introduced. Rotary or fixed-wing long endurance UAV, medium altitude long endurance UAV,
UAVs, capable of performing the photogrammetric data remote-controlled helicopter, and model helicopter are often
acquisition with amateur or SLR digital cameras, can fly in used, according to their propulsion system, altitude/endurance,
manual, semiautomated, and autonomous modes. Following a and the level of automation in the flight execution. The term
typical photogrammetric workflow, 3D results like digital unmanned aerial system comprehends the whole system
surface or terrain models, contours, textured 3D models, composed by the aerial vehicle/platform (UAV) and the ground
vector information, etc. can be produced, even on large areas. control station (GCS). Sanna and Pralio (2005) define UAVs as
The paper reports the state of the art of UAV for geomatics uninhabited air vehicles while Von Blyenburg (1999) defines
applications, giving an overview of different UAV platforms, UAVs as uninhabited and reusable motorized aerial vehicles.
applications, and case studies, showing also the latest In the past, the development of UAV systems and platforms
developments of UAV image processing. New perspectives was primarily motivated by military goals and applications.
are also addressed. Unmanned inspection, surveillance, reconnaissance, and
mapping of inimical areas were the primary military aims.
Keywords UAV . Photogrammetry . DSM . Archeology . For geomatics applications, the first experience was carried
Agriculture . Emergency . Urban out three decades ago, but only recently UAVs in the
geomatics field became a common platform for data
acquisition. UAV photogrammetry (Colomina et al. 2008;
Introduction Eisenbeiss 2009) indeed opens various new applications in
the close-range aerial domain, introducing a low-cost
According to the unmanned vehicle system (UVS) alternative to the classical manned aerial photogrammetry
international definition, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for large-scale topographic mapping or detailed 3D recording
is a generic aircraft design to operate with no human pilot of ground information and being a valid complementary
onboard (http://www.uvs-international.org/). The simple term solution to terrestrial acquisitions (Fig. 1). The latest UAV
success and developments can be explained by the spreading
F. Nex (*) : F. Remondino of low-cost platforms combined with amateur or SRL digital
3D Optical Metrology Unit, Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK), cameras and GNSS/INS systems, necessary to navigate the
Trento, Italy
platforms, predict the acquisition points and possibly perform
e-mail: [email protected]
URL: http://3dom.fbk.eu/ direct geo-referencing. Although conventional airborne
remote sensing has still some advantages and the tremendous
F. Remondino
e-mail: [email protected] improvements of very high-resolution satellite imagery are
URL: http://3dom.fbk.eu/ closing the gap between airborne and satellite mapping
2 Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

Fig. 1 Available geomatics

techniques, sensors, and
platforms for 3D recording
purposes, according to the scene'
dimensions and complexity

applications, UAV platforms are a very important alternative (MEMS)-based or C/A code GPS for the auto-pilot are the
and solution for studying and exploring our environment, in most inexpensive systems (Vallet et al. 2011), although
particular for heritage locations or rapid response applications. stability in case of windy areas might be a problem.
Private companies are now investing and offering More bigger and stable systems, generally based on an
photogrammetric products (mainly digital surface model internal combustion engine (ICE), have longer endurance with
(DSM) and orthoimages) from UAV-based aerial images as respect to electric engine UAVs and, thanks to the higher
the possibility of using flying unmanned platforms with variable payload, they allow medium format (reflex) camera or
dimensions, small weight, and high ground resolution which LiDAR or SAR instruments onboard (Nagai et al. 2004;
allows carrying out flight operations at lower costs compared to Vierling et al. 2006; Wang et al. 2009; Berni et al. 2009a;
the ones required by traditional aircrafts. Problems and Kohoutek and Eisenbeiss 2012; Grenzdoffer et al. 2012).
limitations are still existing, but UAVs are a really capable The developments and improvements at hardware and
source of imaging data for a large variety of applications. platform levels are done in the robotics, aeronautical, and
The paper reviews the most common UAV systems and optical communities where breakthrough solutions are sought
applications in the geomatics field, highlighting open in order to miniaturize the optical systems, enhance the
problems and research issues related to regulations and data payload, achieve complete autonomous navigation, and
processing. The entire photogrammetric processing workflow improve the flying performances (Huckridge and Ebert
is also reported with different examples and critical remarks. 2008; Schafroth et al. 2009). Researchers also performed
studies on flying invertebrates to understand their movement
capabilities, obstacle avoidance, or autonomous landing/
UAV platforms takeoff capabilities (Franceschini et al. 2007; Moore et al.
2011). Based on size, weight, endurance, range, and flying
The primary airframe types are fixed and rotary wings, while altitude, UVS International defines three main categories of
the most common launch/take-off methods are, beside the UAVs as follows:
autonomous mode, air, hand, car/track, canister, or bungee
cord launched. A typical UAV platform for geomatics – Tactical UAVs which include micro, mini, close, short,
purposes can cost from 1,000 up to 50,000 Euro, depending medium range, medium-range endurance, low altitude
on the onboard instrumentation, payload, flight autonomy, deep penetration, low altitude long endurance, and
type of platform, and degree of automation needed for its medium altitude long endurance systems. The mass
specific applications. Low-cost solutions are not usually able varies from few kilograms up to 1,000 kg, the range from
to perform autonomous flights, but they always require human few kilometers up to 500 km, the flight altitude from few
assistance in the take-off and landing phases. Low-cost and hundred meters to 5 km, and the endurance from some
open-source platforms and toolkits were presented in (Bendea minutes to 2–3 days.
et al. 2008; Grenzdörffer et al. 2008; Meier et al. 2011; Neitzel – Strategical UAVs , including high-altitude long
and Klonowski 2011; Stempfhuber and Buchholz 2011). endurance, stratospheric, and exo-stratospheric systems
Simple and hand-launched UAVs which perform flights which fly higher than 20,000-m altitude and have an
autonomously using microelectromechanical systems endurance of 2–4 days.
Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15 3

– Special tasks UAVs like unmanned combat autonomous – Forestry: assessments of woodlots, fires surveillance,
vehicles, lethal, and decoys systems. vegetation monitoring, species identification, volume
computation, as well as silviculture can be accurately
UAVs for geomatics applications can be shortly classified
performed (Grenzdörffer et al. 2008; Martinez et al.
according to their engine/propulsion system in:
2006; Réstas 2006; Berni et al. 2009b).
– Unpowered platforms, e.g., balloon, kite, glider, – Archeology and architecture: 3D surveying and mapping
paraglide of sites and man-made structures can be performed with
– Powered platforms, e.g., airship, glider, propeller, low-altitude image-based approaches (Çabuk et al. 2007;
electric, combustion engine Lambers et al. 2007; Oczipka et al. 2009; Verhoeven
Alternatively, they could be classified according to the 2009; Chiabrando et al. 2011; Rinaudo et al. 2012).
aerodynamic and “physical” features as follows: – Environment: quick and cheap regular flights allow the
monitoring of land and water at multiple epochs (Thamm
– Lighter than air, e.g., balloon, airship and Judex 2006; Niethammer et al. 2010), road mapping
– Rotary wing, either electric or with combustion engine, (Zhang 2008), cadastral mapping (Manyoky et al. 2011),
e.g., single-rotor, coaxial, quadrocopter, multi-rotor thermal analyses (Hartmann et al. 2012), excavation
– Fixed wing, either unpowered, electric or with ICE, e.g., volume computation, volcano monitoring (Smith et al.
glider or high wing 2009), coastline monitoring, or natural resources
In Table 1, pros and cons of different UAV typologies are documentations for geological analyses are also feasible.
presented, according to the literature review and the authors' – Emergency management: UAV are able to quickly
experience: rotor and fixed wing UAVs are compared to more acquire images for the early impact assessment and the
traditional aerial low-cost kite and balloons. rescue planning (Chou et al. 2010; Haarbrink and Koers
2006; Molina et al. 2012). The flight can be performed
over contaminated areas without any danger for operators
or any long pre-flight operations.
UAV applications in geomatics – Traffic monitoring: surveillance, travel time estimation,
trajectories, lane occupancies, and incidence response are
Some UAVs civilian applications are mentioned in the most required information (Puri et al. 2007).
Niranjan et al. (2007), while Everaerts (2008) reports UAV images are also often used in combination with
on UAV projects, regulations, classifications, and terrestrial surveying in order to close possible 3D modeling
application in the mapping domain. The application gaps and create orthoimages (Pueschel et al. 2008;
fields where UAVs images and photogrammetrically Remondino et al. 2009). UAVs can be adopted for industrial
derived DSM or orthoimages are generally employed applications too (i.e., air pollution monitoring, surveillance,
include the following: surveying, etc.).
– Agriculture: producers can take reliable decisions to save
money and time (e.g., precision farming), get quick and
accurate record of damages, or identify potential Historical framework and regulations
problems in the field (Newcombe 2007).
UAVs were originally developed for military applications,
with flight recognition in enemy areas, without any risk for
Table 1 Evaluation of some UAV platforms employed for geomatics human pilots. The first experiences for civil and geomatics
applications, according to the literature and the authors' experience. The
evaluation is from 1 (low) to 5 (high)
applications were carried out at the end of the 70s (Przybilla
and Wester-Ebbinghaus 1979) and their use greatly increased
Kite/ Fixed wing Rotary wings in the last decades thanks to the fast improvement of
balloon platforms, communication technologies, and software as well
Electric ICE engine Electric ICE engine
as the growing number of possible applications. Thus the use
Payload 3 3 4 2 4 of such flying platforms in civil applications imposed to
Wind resistance 4 2 3 2 4 increase the security of UAV flights in order to avoid dangers
Minimum speed 4 2 2 4 4 for human beings. The international community started to
Flying autonomy – 3 5 2 4 define the security criteria for UAV some years ago. In
Portability 3 2 2 3 3 particular, NATO and EuroControl started their cooperation
Landing distance 4 3 2 4 4 in 1999 in order to prepare regulations for UAV platforms and
flights. This work did not lead to a common and international
4 Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

standard yet, especially for civil applications. But the great GCS may lead to increased accidents due to human errors. For
diffusion and commercialization of new UAV systems has this reason, in several countries, UAV operators need some
pushed several national and international associations to training and qualifications.
analyze the operational safety of UAVs. Each country has Anyway, in the last few months, the European community
one or more authorities involved in the UAV regulations that has announced the beginning of three different “Roadmaps” in
operate independently. Due to the absence (at least in the past) the field of R&D, complementary measures, and safety
of cooperation between all these authorities, it is difficult to regulations of the UAVs. This work will define common rules
describe the specific aims of each of them without loss of at EU level with the aim of defining a full integration of UAVs
generality. In Table 2, a schematic summary of the already in the European Aviation system. This process is collecting the
existing regulations in several countries is presented. contributions of many stakeholders from several EU countries
The elements of UAV regulations are mainly keen to and consists of several steps and deliverables. The UAV
increase the reliability of the platforms, underlining the need flights will be divided in different categories according to
for safety certifications for each platform, and ensuring the the flying height and the strategy adopted to control the
public safety. As they are conditioned by technical platform from the GCS (i.e., visual line-of-sight, radio line-
developments and safety standards, rules and certifications of-sight, etc.) to define different regulations and technical
should be set equal to those currently applied to comparable prescriptions. The road maps, started in 2013, will be
manned aircraft, although the most important issue being completed in 2028. For more information refer to (http://
UAVs unmanned, it is the citizens security in case of an ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/aerospace/uas/).
impact.
UAVs have currently different safety levels according to
their dimension, weight, and on board technology. For this UAV data acquisition and processing
reason, the rules applicable to each UAV could not be the
same for all the platforms and categories. For example, in US, A typical image-based aerial surveying with an UAV platform
the safety is defined according to their use (public or civic), in requires a flight or mission planning and ground control points
some European countries according to the weight, as this (GCPs) measurement (if not already available) for geo-
parameter is directly connected to the damage they can referencing purposes. After the acquisitions, images can be
produce when a crash occurs. Other restrictions are defined used for stitching and mosaicking purposes (Neitzel and
in terms of minimum and maximum altitude, maximum Klonowski 2011), or they can be the input of the
payload, area to be surveyed, GCS–vehicle connection (i.e., photogrammetric process. In this case, camera calibration
visual or radio), etc. The indirect control of a pilot from the and image triangulation are initially performed, in order to
generate successively a DSM or digital terrain model. These
products can be finally used for the production of
Table 2 Regulations for UAS use in several countries orthoimages, 3D modeling applications, or for the extraction
Regulation for civil use of UAS (laws and regulations) of further metric information. In Fig. 2, the general workflow
is shown, the input parameters are in green, while the single
Australia CASA Circular, Juli 2002 workflow steps are in yellow, and they are discussed more in
Belgium Certification Specification, Rev. 00, 24.01.07 detail in the following sections.
Canada Approach to the Classification of Unmanned Aircraft,
19.10.10
Denmark Regulations on unmanned aircraft not weighing more than Flight planning and image acquisition
25 kg, Edition 3, 09.01.04
France Decree concerning the design of civil aircraft fly without
anyone on board, August 2010 The mission (flight and data acquisition) is normally planned
Great CAP 722, 06.04.10 u. Joint Doctrine 2/11, 30.3.11
in the lab with dedicated software, starting from the
Britain knowledge of the area of interest, the required ground sample
Norway Operation of unmanned aircraft in Norway, 29.06.09 distance (GSD) or footprint, and the intrinsic parameters of the
Sweden Flying with UAVs in airspace involving civil aviation onboard digital camera. The desired image scale and used
activity, 25.03.03 camera focal length are generally fixed in order to derive the
Switzerland Verordnung des UVEK über Luftfahrtzeuge besonderer mission flying height. The camera perspective centers
Kategorien, 01.04.11
(“waypoints”) are computed fixing the longitudinal and
Czech Czech aviation regulation L2—Rules of the air, 25.08.11
transversal overlap of the strips (e.g., 80–60 %). All these
USA UAS Certification Status, 18.08.08; Fact Sheet—
parameters vary according to the goal of the flight; missions
Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 15.7.10 und NJO7210.766,
28.3.11, 8.2.12 und FAA Bill for detailed 3D model generation usually request high
overlaps and low-altitude flights to achieve small GSDs, while
Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15 5

Fig. 2 Typical acquisition and

processing pipeline for UAV
images

quick flights for emergency surveying and management need navigation devices like those coupled to airborne cameras or
wider areas to be recorded in few minutes, at a lower LiDAR sensors. The cheapest solution relies on MEMS-based
resolution. inertial sensors which feature a very reduced weight but
The flight is normally done in manual, assisted, or accuracy not sufficient, to our knowledge, for direct geo-
autonomous mode, according to the mission specifications, referencing (De Agostino et al. 2010; Piras et al. 2010).
platform's type, and environmental conditions. The presence More advanced and expensive sensors maybe based on
onboard of GNSS/INS navigation devices is usually exploited single/double-frequency positioning mode or the use of RTK
for the autonomous flight (take-off, navigation, and landing) would improve the quality of positioning to a decimeter level,
and to guide the image acquisition. The image network quality but they are still too expensive to be commonly used on low-
is strongly influenced by the typology of the performed flight cost solutions. During the flight, the autonomous platform is
(Fig. 3). In the manual mode, the image overlap and the normally observed with a GCS which shows real-time flight
geometry of acquisition is usually very irregular, while the data such as position, speed, attitude and distances, GNSS
presence of GNSS/INS devices, together with a navigation observations, battery or fuel status, rotor speed, etc. On the
system, can guide and improve the acquisition. The navigation opposite, remotely controlled systems are piloted by operator
system, generally called autopilot, is composed by both from the ground station. Most of the systems allow then image
hardware (often in a miniaturize form) and software devices. data acquisition following the computed waypoints while
An autopilot allows performing a flight according to the low-cost systems acquire images with a scheduled interval.
planning and communicating with the platform during the The used devices (platform, autopilot, and GCS) are
mission. The small size and the reduced payload of some fundamental for the quality and reliability of the final result;
UAV platforms is limiting the transportation of high-quality low-cost instruments can be sufficient for little extensions and

Fig. 3 Different modalities of the flight execution delivering different but irregular image overlap, and c automated flying and acquisition mode
image block's quality: a manual mode and image acquisition with a achieved with a high quality navigation system
scheduled interval, b low-cost navigation system with possible waypoints
6 Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

low-altitude flights, while more expensive devices must be scale. The employed bundle adjustment algorithm must be
used for long endurance flights over wide areas. Generally, in reliable, able to handle possible outliers, and provide statistical
case of light weight and low-cost platforms, a regular overlap outputs to validate the results. The collected GNSS/INS data,
in the image block cannot be assured as there are strongly if available, can help for the automated tie point extraction and
influenced by the presence of wind, piloting capabilities, and can allow the direct geo-referencing of the captured images. In
GNSS/INS quality, all randomly affecting the attitude and applications with low metric quality requirements, e.g., for
location of the platforms during the flight. Thus higher fast data acquisition and mapping during emergency response,
overlaps, with respect to flights performed with manned the accuracy of direct GNSS/INS observation can be enough
vehicles or very expensive UAVs, are usually recommended (Pfeifer et al. 2012; Zhou 2009).
to keep in count these problems. If the navigation positioning system cannot be directly used
(even for autonomous flight) as the signal is strongly degraded
or not available (downtowns, rainforest areas, etc.), the
Camera calibration and image orientation orientation phase must rely only on a pure image-based
approach (Eugster and Nebiker 2008; Wang et al. 2008;
Camera calibration and image orientation are two Barazzetti et al. 2010; Anai et al. 2012), thus requiring
fundamental prerequisites for any metric reconstruction from GCPs for scaling and geo-referencing. These two latter steps
images. In metrological applications, the separation of both are very important in order to get metric results. To perform
tasks in two different steps should be preferred (Remondino indirect geo-referencing, there are basically two ways to
and Fraser 2006). Indeed, they require different block proceed as follows:
geometries, which can be better optimized if they are treated
in separated stages. On the other hand, in many applications 1. Import at least three GCPs in the bundle adjustment
where lower accuracy is required, calibration and orientation solution, treating them as weighted observations inside
can be computed at the same time by solving a self-calibrating the least squares minimization. This approach is the most
bundle adjustment. In case of aerial cameras, the camera rigorous as (1) it minimizes the possible image block
calibration is generally performed in the lab although in- deformations and possible systematic errors, (2) it avoids
flight calibration are also performed (Colomina et al. 2007), instability of the bundle solution (convergence to a wrong
possibly with strips at different flying heights. Camera solution), and (3) it helps in the determination of the
calibration and image orientation tasks require the extraction correct 3D shape of the surveyed scene.
of common features visible in as many images as possible (tie 2. Use a free-network approach in the bundle adjustment
points) followed by a bundle adjustment, i.e., a nonlinear (Granshaw 1980; Dermanis 1994) and apply only at the
optimization procedure in order to minimize an appropriate end of the bundle a similarity (Helmert) transformation in
cost function (Brown 1976; Triggs et al. 2000; Gruen and order to bring the image network results into a desired
Beyer 2001). Procedure based on the manual identification of reference coordinate system. This approach is not
tie points by an expert operator or based on signalized coded rigorous; the solution is sought minimizing the trace of
markers are well assessed and used today. Recently, fully the covariance matrix, introducing the necessary datum
automated procedures for the extraction of consistent and with some initial approximations. As no external
redundant sets of tie points from markerless close-range constraint is introduced, if the bundle solution cannot
images have been developed for photogrammetric determine the right 3D shape of the surveyed scene, the
applications (Barazzetti et al. 2011; Pierrot-Deseilligny and successive similarity transformation (from the initial
Clery 2011). Some efficient commercial solutions have also relative orientation to the external one) would not improve
appeared on the market (e.g., PhotoModeler Scanner, Eos Inc; the result. The two approaches, in theory, are thus not
PhotoScan, Agisoft), while commercial software for aerial equivalent and they can lead to totally different results as
applications still need some user interaction or the availability follows (Fig. 4): in the first approach, the quality of the
of GNSS/INS data for automated tie points extraction. In bundle is only influenced by the redundant control
computer vision, the simultaneous determination of camera information and, moreover, additional check points can
(interior and exterior) parameters and 3D structure is normally be used to derive some statistics of the adjustment. On the
called “structure from motion” (Hartley and Zisserman 2004; other, the second approach has no external shape
Snavely et al. 2008; Robertson and Cipolla 2009). Some free constraints in the bundle adjustment thus the solution is
web-based approaches (e.g., Photosynth, 123DCatch, etc.) only based on the integrity and quality of the multi-ray
and open-source solutions (VisualSfM (Wu 2011) Bundler relative orientation. The fundamental requirement is, thus,
(Snavely et al. 2007), etc.) are also available, although to have a good image network in order to achieve correct
generally not reliable and accurate enough in case of large results in terms of computed object coordinates and
and complex image blocks with variable baselines and image scene's 3D shape.
Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15 7

Fig. 4 Orientation results of an aerial block over a flat area of ca. 2 km deformation). The more rigorous approach, based on GCPs used as
(a). The derived camera poses are shown in red/green, while color dots observations in the bundle solution (c), deliver the correct 3D shape of
are the 3D object points on the ground. The absence of ground constraint the surveyed scene, i.e., a flat terrain
(b) can lead to a wrong solution of the computed 3D shape (i.e., ground

Surface reconstruction and orthoimage generation followed by a stitching operation (Neitzel and Klonowski
2011).
Once a set of images has been oriented, the following steps in
the 3D reconstruction and modeling workflow are the surface
measurement, orthophoto creation, and feature extraction.
Case studies
Starting from the known camera orientation parameters, a
scene can be digitally reconstructed by means of interactive
As already mentioned, images acquired flying UAV platforms
procedures or automated dense image matching techniques.
give useful information for different applications, such as
The output is normally a sparse or a dense point cloud,
archeological documentation, geological studies and
describing the salient corners and features in the former case
monitoring, urban area modeling and monitoring, emergency
or the entire surface's shape of the surveyed scene in the latter
assessment, and so on. The typical required products are dense
case. Dense image matching algorithms should be able to
point clouds, polygonal models, or orthoimages which are
extract dense point clouds to define the object's surface and
afterwards used for mapping, volume computation,
its main geometric discontinuities.
displacement analyses, visualization, city modeling, map
Therefore, the point density must be adaptively tuned to
generation, etc. In the following sections, an overview of
preserve edges and, possibly, avoid too many points in flat
some applications is given and the achieved results are shown.
areas. At the same time, a correct matching result must be
The data presented in the following case studies were acquired
guaranteed also in regions with poor textures. The actual state-
by the authors or by some project partners and they were
of-the-art is the multi-image matching technique (Seitz et al.
processed by the authors using the Apero (Pierrot-
2006; Vu et al. 2009; Zhu et al. 2010) based on semi-global
Deseilligny and Clery 2011) and Mic-Mac (Pierrot-
matching algorithms (Gerke et al. 2010; Hirschmüller 2008),
Deseilligny and Paparoditis 2006) open-source tools
patch-based methods (Furukawa and Ponce 2010), or optimal
customized for specific UAV applications.
flow algorithms (Pierrot-Deseilligny and Paparoditis 2006).
The last two methods have been implemented into open-
source packages named, respectively, PMVS and MicMac.
The derived unstructured point clouds need to be afterwards Archeological site 3D recoding and modeling
structured and interpolated, maybe simplified, and finally
textured for photo-realistic visualization. Dense point clouds The availability of accurate 3D information is very important
are generally preferred in case of terrain/surface reconstruction during excavation in order to define the state of works/
(e.g., archeological excavation, forestry area, etc.), while sparse excavations at a particular epoch or to digitally reconstruct the
clouds which are afterward turned into simple polygonal findings that had been discovered for documentation, digital
information can be preferred when modeling man-made scenes preservation, and visualization purposes. An example of such
like buildings. For the creation of orthoimages, a dense point application is given in Fig. 5, where the Neptune Temple in the
cloud is mandatory in order to achieve precise orthorectification archeological area of Paestum (Italy) is shown. Given the shape,
and for a complete removal of terrain distortions. On the other complexity, and dimensions of the monument, a combination of
hand, in case of low-accuracy applications (e.g., rapid response, terrestrial and UAV (vertical and oblique) images was
disaster assessment, etc.), a simple image rectification method employed in order to guarantee the completeness of the 3D
(without the need of dense image matching) can be applied surveying work. The employed UAV is a four-rotor MD4-1000
8 Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

Fig. 5 Integration of terrestrial images (a) with oblique (b) and vertical (c) UAV acquisitions for the surveying and modeling of the complex Neptune
temple in Paestum, Italy. The integrated adjustment for the derivation of the camera poses of all the images (d, e) in a unique reference system

Microdrone system, entirely of carbon fiber which can carry up platform was probably not the most suited one. For each session,
to 1.0 kg instruments with an endurance longer than 45 min. using multiple shootings for each waypoint, a reliable set of
For the nadir images, the UAV mounted an Olympus E-P1 images (ca. 40) was acquired, with an average GSD of 1 cm.
camera (12 megapixels, 4.3 μm pixel size) with 17 mm focal In order to evaluate the quality of the image triangulation
length, while for the oblique images, it was used an Olympus procedure, some circular targets, measured with a total station,
XZ-1 (10 megapixels, 2 μm pixel size) with 6 mm focal length. are used as GCP and other as check points (CK). After the
For both flights, the average GSD of the images is ca. 3 cm. The orientation step, the RMSE on the CK resulted 0.037 m in
autopilot system allowed performing two complete flights in planimetry and 0.023 m in height for the 2010 flight: very
autonomous mode, but the stored coordinates of the projection similar results were achieved in the second flight. The derived
centers were not sufficient for direct geo-referencing. For this DSMs (Fig. 6b, c) were used within the Pava's GIS to produce
reason, a set of reliable GCPs (measured with total station on vector layers, orthoimages (Fig. 6d), and to check the advances
corners and features of the temple) was necessary to derive in the excavation or the excavation volumes (Fig. 6e).
scaled and geo-referenced 3D results. The orientation
procedure was finally completed adding terrestrial to UAV
images (ca. 190) and orienting the whole dataset Geological and mining studies
simultaneously in order to bring all the data in the same
coordinate system. After the recovery of the camera poses, a UAVs can give reliable information in the geological
DSM was produced for documentation and visualization monitoring of different areas, in particular for those sites
purposes (Fiorillo et al. 2012). which can be better surveyed using vertical flights. Dense
A second example is reported in Fig. 6, showing the point clouds generated over areas of interest can give
archeological area of Pava (ca. 60×50 m) surveyed every year information about the shape of rock surfaces, their stability,
at the beginning and end of the excavation period to monitor the slopes, and volumes.
advances of the work, compute the exaction volume, and UAVs can be, thus, a powerful, quick, cheap, and reliable
produce multi-temporal orthoimages of the area. The flights alternative to terrestrial laser scanners for monitoring the
(35-m height) were performed with a Microdrone MD4-200 in excavation material in mine areas or quarries. The generated
2010 and 2011. The heritage area is quite windy, so an electric DSM (e.g., Figs. 7 and 8) allows quick multi-temporal
Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15 9

Fig. 6 A mosaic view of the

excavation area in Pava (Siena,
Italy) surveyed with UAV images
for volume excavation
computation and GIS applications
(a). The derived DSM shown as
shaded (b) and textured mode (c)
and the produced orthoimage (d)
(Remondino et al. 2011). If multi-
temporal images are available,
DSM differences can be
computed for volume exaction
estimation (e)

volumes estimations, without problems of occlusion that can mapping, and cadastral applications. These images have very
be faced by using terrestrial acquisitions. high-resolution if flights are performed at 100–200 m height
over the ground. Very high overlaps are recommended in order
to reduce occluded areas and achieve more complete and
Urban areas detailed DSM. A sufficient number of GCPs is mandatory in
order to geo-reference the processed images within the bundle
An UAV platform can be used to survey small urban areas, adjustment and derive point clouds; the number of GCPs varies
when national regulation allows doing it, for cartographic, according to the image block dimensions and the complexity of
10 Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

Fig. 7 Mosaic of ca. 50 UAV

images over a nickel quarry area
in Indonesia (a) and produced
DSM for volume computation (b)

the surveyed area (Fig. 8). The quality of achieved point clouds the current state-of-the-art of photogrammetric UAV
is usually very high (up to few centimeters), and this data can technology in different application domains. Although
thus be used for further analysis and feature extraction. automation is not always demanded, the reported
In Fig. 9, a dense urban area in Bandung (Indonesia) is achievements demonstrate the high level of autonomous
shown; the area was surveyed with an electric fixed-wing photogrammetric processing. UAVs have recently received a
RPV platform at an average height of about 150 m. Due to lot of attention, since they are fairly inexpensive platforms,
weather conditions (quite strong wing) and the absence of an with navigation/control devices and recording sensors for
autopilot onboard, the acquired images (ca. 270, average GSD quick digital data production. The great advantage of actual
is about 5 cm) are not perfectly aligned in strips (Fig. 9b). UAV systems is the ability to quickly deliver high temporal
After the bundle block adjustment, a dense DSM was created and spatial resolution information and to allow a rapid
for the estimation of the population in the surveyed area and response in a number of critical situations where immediate
map production. access to 3D geo-information is crucial. Indeed, they feature
A second example is an UAV flight over the area of Povo real-time capability for fast data acquisition, transmission,
(Trento, Italy). Images were acquired at 100–125 m height and, possibly, processing. UAVs can be used in high risk
using a Microdrone MD4-200 with a Pentax Optio A40 camera situations and inaccessible areas, although they still have
(8 mm focal length) onboard. The average GSD is about 3 cm some limitations in particular for the payload, insurance, and
and the degree of detail is very high over the whole area. The stability. Rotary wing UAV platforms can even take-off and
image overlap was about 80 % along track and 40 % across land vertically, thus no runway area is required, while fixed
track. The image block (four parallel strips plus one higher and wing UAVs can cover wider areas in a few minutes. For some
orthogonal) allowed the generation of a very detailed and dense applications, not demanding very accurate 3D results,
DSM (Fig. 10). The generated DSM was finally used for the complete remote sensing solutions, based on open hardware
building footprint extraction, the cadastral updating of the area, and software, are also available. And in the case of small scale
photovoltaic potential computation, or 3D building modeling. applications, UAVs can be a complement or replacement of
terrestrial acquisition (images or range data). The derived
high-resolution images (GSD generally in the centimeter
Conclusions and future developments level) can be used, beside very dense point cloud generation,
for texture mapping purposes on existing 3D data, for
The article presented an overview of existing UAV systems, orthophoto production, map and drawing generation, or 3D
problems, and applications with particular attention to the building modeling. If compared to traditional airborne
geomatics field. The examples reported in the paper show platforms, UAVs decrease the operational costs and reduce

Fig. 8 The flight plan for an UAV surveying of the rock quarry visualized in Google Earth (a). The image orientation results, showing different strips
composed of oblique and nadir images (b). Produced photogrammetric DSM for excavation monitoring and volume computation (c)
Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15 11

Fig. 9 A mosaic over an urban area in Bandung, Indonesia (a). Visualization of the bundle adjustment results (b) of the large UAV block (ca. 270
images) and a close view of the produced DSM over the urban area, shown as point cloud (c, d) and shaded mode (e)

the risk of access in harsh environments, still keeping high low weight GNSS/IMU, thus denying direct geo-referencing
accuracy potential. But the small or medium format cameras solutions. New reliable navigation systems are nowadays
which are generally employed, in particular on low-cost and available, but the cost has limited their use until now to very
small payload systems, enforce the acquisition of a higher few examples. A drawback is, thus, the system maneuver and
number of images in order to achieve the same image transportation that generally requires at least two persons.
coverage at a comparable resolution. In these conditions, UAV regulations are under development in several
automated and reliable orientation software are strictly countries all around the world, in order to propose some
recommended to reduce the processing time. Some reliable technical specifications and areas where these devices can be
solution is nowadays available, even in the low-cost open- used (e.g., over urban settlements), increasing the range of
source sector. their applications. At the moment, the lack of precise rule
The stability of low-cost and light platforms is generally an frameworks and the tedious requests for flight permissions
important issue, in particular in windy areas, although camera represent the biggest limitation for UAV applications.
and platform stabilizers can reduce the weather dependency. Hopefully, the incoming rules will regulate UAV applications
Generally, the stability issue is solved shooting many images for surveying issues.
(continuous acquisition or multiple shots from the predefined Considering an entire UAV-based field campaign (Fig. 11)
waypoints) and using, during the processing phase, only the and based on the authors' experience, we can safely say that,
best image. High-altitude surveying can affect gasoline and although automation has reached satisfactory level of
turbine engines while the payload limitation enforce the use of performances for automated tie point extraction and DSM
12 Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15

Fig. 10 Visualization of the image triangulation results of the UAV block (a). A close view of the produced dense point cloud of the urban area (b) and
the derived 3D building models (LOD2) of the surveyed area (c)

generation, an high percentage of the time is absorbed by the of feature to be extracted and is generally a time-consuming
image orientation and GCPs measurements, in particular if phase too.
direct geo-referencing cannot be performed. The time The GCPs measurement step represents an important issue
requested for the feature extraction depends on the typology with UAV image blocks. As the accuracy of the topographic
network is influencing the image triangulation accuracy and
the GSD of the images is often reaching the centimeter level,
there might be problems in reaching sub-pixel accuracies at
the end of the image triangulation process. So far, in the
literature, RMSEs of 2–3 pixels are normally reported, also
due to the camera performances, image network quality,
unmodeled errors, etc.
In the near future, the most feasible improvement should be
related to payload, autonomy, and stability issues as well as
faster (or even real-time) data processing thanks to GPU
programming (Wendel et al. 2012). High-end navigation
sensors, like DGPS and inexpensive INS, would allow direct
Fig. 11 Approximate time effort in a typical UAV-based geo-referencing with accurate results. In case of low-end
photogrammetric workflow navigation systems, real-time image orientation could be
Appl Geomat (2014) 6:1–15 13

achieved with onboard advanced simultaneous localization Berni JAJ, Zarco-Tejada PJ, Suárez L, Fereres E (2009b) Thermal and
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Chiabrando F, Nex F, Piatti D, Rinaudo F (2011) UAV and RPV systems
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