{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,14]],"date-time":"2026-04-14T03:36:38Z","timestamp":1776137798268,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,12,9]],"date-time":"2013-12-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1386547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The availability of high-resolution Digital Surface Models of coastal environments is of increasing interest for scientists involved in the study of the coastal system processes. Among the range of terrestrial and aerial methods available to produce such a dataset, this study tests the utility of the Structure from Motion (SfM) approach to low-altitude aerial imageries collected by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The SfM image-based approach was selected whilst searching for a rapid, inexpensive, and highly automated method, able to produce 3D information from unstructured aerial images. In particular, it was used to generate a dense point cloud and successively a high-resolution Digital Surface Models (DSM) of a beach dune system in Marina di Ravenna (Italy). The quality of the elevation dataset produced by the UAV-SfM was initially evaluated by comparison with point cloud generated by a Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) surveys. Such a comparison served to highlight an average difference in the vertical values of  0.05 m (RMS = 0.19 m). However, although the points cloud comparison is the best approach to investigate the absolute or relative correspondence between UAV and TLS methods, the assessment of geomorphic features is usually based on multi-temporal surfaces analysis, where an interpolation process is required. DSMs were therefore generated from UAV and TLS points clouds and vertical absolute accuracies assessed by comparison with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) survey. The vertical comparison of UAV and TLS DSMs with respect to GNSS measurements pointed out an average distance at cm-level (RMS = 0.011 m). The successive point by point direct comparison between UAV and TLS elevations show a very small average distance,  0.015 m, with RMS = 0.220 m. Larger values are encountered in areas where sudden changes in topography are present. The UAV-based approach was demonstrated to be a straightforward one and accuracy of the vertical dataset was comparable with results obtained by TLS technology.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5126880","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,12,9]],"date-time":"2013-12-09T12:47:59Z","timestamp":1386593279000},"page":"6880-6898","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":619,"title":["Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for High-Resolution Reconstruction of Topography: The Structure from Motion Approach on Coastal Environments"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Francesco","family":"Mancini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"DICATECh, Technical University of Bari, via Edoardo Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy"}]},{"given":"Marco","family":"Dubbini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DiSCi, University of Bologna, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, I-40124 Bologna, Italy"}]},{"given":"Mario","family":"Gattelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SAL Engineering, via Vittorio Veneto 2, I-41124 Modena, Italy"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Stecchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BiGeA, University of Bologna, via Sant'Alberto 163, I-48123 Ravenna, Italy"}]},{"given":"Stefano","family":"Fabbri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BiGeA, University of Bologna, via Sant'Alberto 163, I-48123 Ravenna, Italy"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Gabbianelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BiGeA, University of Bologna, via Sant'Alberto 163, I-48123 Ravenna, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,12,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2007.04.001","article-title":"Saltwater intrusion in the unconfined coastal aquifer of Ravenna (Italy): A numerical model","volume":"340","author":"Giambastiani","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Hydrol"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"459","DOI":"10.1038\/432459a","article-title":"Water resources: Groundwater maintains dune landscape","volume":"432","author":"Chen","year":"2004","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2012.01.006","article-title":"3D Terrestrial lidar data classification of complex natural scenes using a multi-scale dimensionality criterion: Applications in geomorphology","volume":"68","author":"Brodu","year":"2012","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"513","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.2071","article-title":"Aeolian sand strip mobility and protodune development on a drying beach: Examining surface moisture and surface roughness patterns measured by terrestrial laser scanning","volume":"4","author":"Nield","year":"2011","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"391","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1026","article-title":"Use of a three-dimensional laser scanner to digitally capture the topography of sand dunes in high spatial resolution","volume":"3","author":"Nagihara","year":"2004","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Hengl, T., and Reuter, H.I. (2009). Geomorphometry Concepts, Software, Applications, Elsevier."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2007.12.007","article-title":"Controls on coastal dune morphology, shoreline erosion and barrier island response to extreme storms","volume":"3","author":"Houser","year":"2008","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"125","article-title":"Evaluation of airborne topographic lidar for quantifying beach changes","volume":"1","author":"Sallenger","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Coastal Res"},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"502","article-title":"Estimation of shoreline position and change using airborne topographic lidar data","volume":"18","author":"Stockdonf","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Coast. Res"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"835","DOI":"10.1145\/1141911.1141964","article-title":"Photo tourism: Exploring photo collections in 3D","volume":"25","author":"Snavely","year":"2006","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Graph"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Snavely, N. (2008). Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.1979.0006","article-title":"The interpretation of structure from motion","volume":"203","author":"Ullman","year":"1979","journal-title":"Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00129684","article-title":"Shape and motion from image streams under orthography: A factorization method","volume":"9","author":"Tomasi","year":"1992","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Vis"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1109\/34.584098","article-title":"A paraperspective factorization method for shape and motion recovery","volume":"19","author":"Poelman","year":"1997","journal-title":"IEEE. Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"538","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2010.08.009","article-title":"Fast robust large-scale mapping from video and internet photo collections","volume":"65","author":"Frahm","year":"2010","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3745","DOI":"10.3390\/s90503745","article-title":"Performance analysis of the SIFT operator for automatic feature extraction and matching in photogrammetric applications","volume":"9","author":"Lingua","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Barazzetti, L., Remondino, F., Scaioni, M., and Brumana, R. (2010, January 15\u201318). Fully Automatic UAV Image-Based Sensor Orientation. Calgary, AB, Canada."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1243","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160701736513","article-title":"High-quality image matching and automated generation of 3D tree models","volume":"29","author":"Baltsavias","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3366","article-title":"Topographic structure from motion: A new development in photogrammetric measurement","volume":"38","author":"Fonstad","year":"2013","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"033542","DOI":"10.1117\/1.3216822","article-title":"Unmanned aerial vehicle-based remote sensing for rangeland assessment, monitoring, and management","volume":"3","author":"Rango","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Appl. Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"233","DOI":"10.1002\/arp.354","article-title":"Providing an archaeological bird\u2019s eye view\u2014An overall picture of ground-based means to execute low-altitude aerial photography (LAAP) in archaeology","volume":"16","author":"Verhoeven","year":"2009","journal-title":"Archaeol. Prospect"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1002\/arp.353","article-title":"Helikite aerial photography (HAP)\u2014A versatile means of unmanned, radio-controlled, low-altitude aerial archaeology","volume":"16","author":"Verhoeven","year":"2009","journal-title":"Archaeol. Prospect"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2164","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5052164","article-title":"Visualizing and quantifying vineyard canopy LAI using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collected high density structure from motion point cloud","volume":"5","author":"Mathews","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3390","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4113390","article-title":"Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for monitoring soil erosion in Morocco","volume":"4","author":"Marzolff","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1519","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4061519","article-title":"Development of a UAV-LiDAR system with application to forest inventory","volume":"4","author":"Wallace","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.3390\/rs2010290","article-title":"Acquisition of NIR-Green-Blue digital photographs from unmanned aircraft for crop monitoring","volume":"2","author":"Hunt","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"680","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1969","article-title":"High resolution, basin extent observations and implications for understanding river form and process","volume":"35","author":"Fonstad","year":"2010","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1392","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4051392","article-title":"An automated technique for generating georectified mosaics from ultra-high resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery, based on structure from motion (SfM) point clouds","volume":"4","author":"Turner","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1573","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4061573","article-title":"Assessing the accuracy of georeferenced point clouds produced via multi-view stereopsis from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery","volume":"4","author":"Harwin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"453","DOI":"10.3390\/s120100453","article-title":"Point cloud generation from aerial image data acquired by a quadrocopter type micro unmanned aerial vehicle and a digital still camera","volume":"12","author":"Rosnell","year":"2012","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e73550","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0073550","article-title":"Kite aerial photography for low-cost, ultra-high spatial resolution multi-spectral mapping of intertidal landscapes","volume":"8","author":"Bryson","year":"2013","journal-title":"PloS One"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1886","article-title":"Accounting for uncertainty in DEMs from repeat topographic surveys: Improved sediment budgets","volume":"35","author":"Wheaton","year":"2010","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landf"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"831","DOI":"10.1007\/s00254-004-1215-9","article-title":"A century of land subsidence in Ravenna, Italy","volume":"47","author":"Teatini","year":"2005","journal-title":"Env. Geol"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1439-0485.2002.tb00006.x","article-title":"Interaction between climate changes, eustacy and land subsidence in the North Adriatic Region, Italy","volume":"23","author":"Carbognin","year":"2002","journal-title":"Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser"},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Agisoft PhotoScan (2013). User Manual: Professional Edition, AgiSoft LLC. Version 0.9.1."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"Seitz, S., Curless, B., Diebel, J., Scharstein, D., and Szeliski, R. (2006, January 17\u201322). A Comparison and Evaluation of Multi-View Stereo Reconstruction Algorithms. Washington, DC, USA."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Szeliski, R. (2010). Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications, Springer-Verlag.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-84882-935-0"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1002\/arp.399","article-title":"Taking computer vision aloft\u2014Archaeological three\u2013dimensional reconstructions from aerial photographs with PhotoScan","volume":"18","author":"Verhoeven","year":"2011","journal-title":"Archaeol. Prospect"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1313","DOI":"10.2112\/SI65-222.1","article-title":"Detecting seasonal variations in embryo dune morphology using a terrestrial laser scanner","volume":"65","author":"Montreuil","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Coast. Res"}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/5\/12\/6880\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T21:51:13Z","timestamp":1760219473000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/5\/12\/6880"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2013,12,9]]},"references-count":39,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,12]]}},"alternative-id":["rs5126880"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs5126880","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2013,12,9]]}}}