MODELLING STEEP SURFACES BY VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS OF NADIR AND OBLIQUE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Abstract. Among the parts of the territory requiring periodical and careful monitoring, many have steep surfaces: quarries, river basins, land-slides, dangerous mountainsides. Aerial photogrammetry based on lightweight unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is rapidly becoming the tool of election to survey limited areas of land with a high level of detail. Aerial photogrammetry is traditionally based on vertical images and only recently the use of significantly inclined imagery has been considered. Oblique photogrammetry presents peculiar aspects and offers improved capabilities for steep surface reconstruction. Full comprehension of oblique photogrammetry still requires research efforts and the evaluation of diverse case studies. In the present paper, the focus is on the photogrammetric UAS-based survey of a part of a large sandpit. Various flight configurations are considered: ordinary linear strips, radial strips (as the scarp considered has a semi-circular shape) and curved ones; moreover, nadir looking and oblique image blocks were acquired. Around 300 control points were measured with a topographic total station. The various datasets considered are evaluated in terms of density of the extracted point cloud and in terms of the distance between the reconstructed surface and a number of check points.