Comparison of photogrammetric techniques for rockfalls monitoring

Abstract

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs to image capture for monitoring natural hazards has had a major boost for its wide possibilities in the last decade. These are, for example, the studying and monitoring of unstable slopes, glaciers and rocky escarpments. Moreover, to evaluate the risk after a rockfall or debris flow event, for example measuring volume of displaced material, trajectories of blocks or building and/or infrastructure damaged. But the use of these devices requires a specific treatment regarding the studied case and geomatic techniques suitable to get the adequate precision of the movement, size of items or events to study. For each application it is necessary to determine what kind of capture is the most appropriate to obtain an optimal benefit-cost ratio. A comparison of the use of terrestrial photogrammetry, UAV photogrammetry and video from UAV has been done. The best result has been obtained combining techniques aerial and terrestrial since ground points with a best quality can be identified and measured and all the surface has a best image coverage.