UAV platforms for cultural heritage survey: first results

Abstract. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is becoming very common for photogrammetric survey especially due to numerous advantages compared to "traditional" aerial photogrammetry. The work carried out describes the first results obtained using different UAV systems for Cultural Heritage surveys. The study was performed acquiring two different datasets on an archaeological site and a "land art" site respectively. These datasets have different characteristics in relation to the extension of the surveyed areas, the used platform, the flight parameters. A Computer Vision approach has been used to produce 3D models and ortho-images with a very high level of detail. Some tests were also carried out to evaluate the metric accuracy of the images orientations and 3D models.