Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms are nowadays a valuable source of data for inspection, surveillance, mapping and 3D modeling issues.
As UAVs can be considered as a low cost alternative to the classical manned aerial photogrammetry, new applications in the short- and close-range domain are introduced.
Rotary or fixed wing UAVs, capable of performing the photogrammetric data acquisition with amateur or SLR digital cameras, can fly in manual, semi automated and autonomous modes.
Following a typical photogrammetric workflow, 3D results like Digital Surface or Terrain Models (DTM/DSM), contours, textured 3D models, vector information, etc. can be produced, even on large areas.
This paper explore the use of UAV for Geomatics applications, giving an interesting overview of different UAV platforms and case studies.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fabio_Remondino/publication/260529522_UAV_for_3D_mapping_applications_A_review/links/00b7d532f0e4da131e000000/UAV-for-3D-mapping-applications-A-review.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fabio_Remondino/publication/260529522_UAV_for_3D_mapping_applications_A_review/links/00b7d532f0e4da131e000000/UAV-for-3D-mapping-applications-A-review.pdf