THE PHOTOGRAMMETRIC POTENTIAL OF LOW-COST UAVs IN FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE

Micro-UAVs (Unmanned-Airborne-Vehicles or drones) with a total weight below 5 kg are interesting alternative carriers for agricultural and forestry applications. Compared to standard airborne aerial surveys UAVs are much more flexible and weather independent. As a result micro-UAV surveys will pave the way for affordable, current and accurate geo-information. Practical tests with two different systems at several locations revealed that both systems were capable of acquiring images in a systematic manner. However the necessary post processing effort in order to obtain photogrammetric products suitable for a GIS was quite high. The photogrammetric potential for direct georeferencing of micro-UAVs is quite high, but until now has not been fully exploited. This is primarily due to the fact that the manufacturers of UAVs are not aware and familiar with the special requirements of photogrammmetry and GIS data acquisition, e.g. metric cameras, systematic aerial surveys, precise values of the exterior orientation. * Corresponding author