ASSESSMENT OF SPATIAL DATA OBTAINED BY MEANS OF THE USE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV)

Abstract

At present, in industry or research, engineering projects demand continuous spatial data from the Earth's surface. Depending on the required level of detail, collecting such data through traditional methods like topographic surveying can be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, these methods often involve extended timeframes and challenges in accessing difficult terrains, such as steep slopes. The use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly referred to as a drone, equipped with sensors like photographic cameras, offers a means of consistently acquiring very high spatial resolution data from the Earth's surface. The incorporation of Ground Control Points (GCPs) ensures the data 's spatial accuracy. Photogrammetric process like structure from motion (SfM), generate various spatial products, including orthophotos and point clouds. This research centers on the application of a fixed-wing UAV to survey a 120 ha area to generate spatial data. The study demonstrates the high precision of the derived spatial data, validated against ground true data, using a flight height of 100 m over the above ground with an 80% overlap. The results include the generation of an orthophoto, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM), and a Digital Surface Model (DSM), with both terrain models derived from the point cloud.