Abstract
There is a growing demand for the collection of ultra-high spatial resolution imagery using unmanned aerial systems (UASs). UASs are a cost-effective solution for data collection on small scales and can fly at much lower altitudes, thus yielding spatial resolutions not previously achievable with manned aircraft or satellites. The use of commercially available software for image processing has also become commonplace due to the relative ease at which imagery can be processed and the minimal knowledge of traditional photogrammetric processes required by users. Commercially available software such as AgiSoft Photoscan and Pix4Dmapper Pro are capable of generating the high-quality data that are in demand for environmental remote sensing applications. We quantitatively assess the implications of processing parameter decision-making on UAS product accuracy and quality for orthomosaic and digital surface models for RGB and multispectral imagery. We iterated 40 processing workflows by incrementally varying two key processing parameters in Pix4Dmapper Pro, and conclude that maximizing for the highest intermediate parameters may not always translate into effective final products. We also show that multispectral imagery can effectively be leveraged to derive three-dimensional models of higher quality despite the lower resolution of sensors when compared to RGB imagery, reducing time in the field and the need for multiple flights over the same area when collecting multispectral data is a priority. We conclude that when users plan to use the highest processing parameter values, to ensure quality end-products it is important to increase initial flight coverage in advance.
Highlights
The use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has progressed from military to civilian applications such as homeland security, rapid-response disaster surveillance, ecological monitoring, earth science research, and humanitarian observations [1,2]
The proliferation of data has resulted in rapid advances in imagery processing with commercial software, making algorithms faster and more user-friendly compared to more traditional methods of aerial stereophotogrammetry. Available software such as AgiSoft Photoscan and Pix4Dmapper Pro are capable of generating the high-quality products that are in demand for environmental remote sensing applications
SFM is a photogrammetric technique used to estimate the three-dimensional (3D) structure from multiple two-dimensional (2D) offset image sequences resulting from the motion of a camera of objects from multiple two-dimensional (2D) offset image sequences resulting from the motion of a mounted on platforms such as UASs [10]
Summary
The use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has progressed from military to civilian applications such as homeland security, rapid-response disaster surveillance, ecological monitoring, earth science research, and humanitarian observations [1,2]. The proliferation of data has resulted in rapid advances in imagery processing with commercial software, making algorithms faster and more user-friendly compared to more traditional methods of aerial stereophotogrammetry Available software such as AgiSoft Photoscan and Pix4Dmapper Pro are capable of generating the high-quality products that are in demand for environmental remote sensing applications. Our overarching research question was “how does the choice of processing parameters during the structure-from-motion image processing workflow affect intermediary and final photogrammetric outputs from visible and multispectral imagery and how reliably can multispectral imagery be used to create three-dimensional objects compared to RGB despite significant spatial resolution differences?”. We quantitatively assess theofdifferences between (ground multispectral and RGB imagery to can determine be considered a reliable source for three-dimensional surfaces such as digital surface and digital whether multispectral imagery, though significantly less detailed in terms of spatial resolution terrain models.(ground sampling distance) typically, can be considered a reliable source for threedimensional surfaces such as digital surface and digital terrain models
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