DEM generation with UAV Photogrammetry and accuracy analysis in Sahitler hill

Nowadays Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are widely used in many applications for different purposes. Their benefits however are not entirely detected due to integration capabilities of other equipment such as; digital camera, GPS, or laser scanner. The main scope of this paper is evaluating performance of cameras integrated UAV for geomatic applications by the way of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation in a small area (approximately 5 ha). In this purpose, 27 ground control points are surveyed with RTK and 200 photos captured with Canon EOS M. Over 26 million georeferenced points were used in DEM generation process. Accuracy of the DEM was evaluated with 30 check points and obtained 6.62 cm overall vertical accuracy from an altitude of 60 m. Outcomes of the study show that the data derived from UAV Photogrammetry have adequate accuracy very much alike to RTK GPS data. So it is possible to use the UAV Photogrammetry data as map producing, surveying, and some other engineering applications with the advantages of low-cost, time conservation, and minimum field work. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.