U.PH.O AND MAGO: TWO USEFUL INSTRUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF PHOTOGRAMMETRIC UAV SURVEY

Abstract

In emergency and critical scenarios, the UAV could play a key role in accessing unreachable sites in a safe and rapid way, guaranteeing at the same time the necessary accuracy and precision of the survey. In this context, UAV survey campaigns have been performed by the authors in Norcia (Italy), hit by tragic seismic events in August and October 2016. The surveys were motivated by the artistic and historical value of monuments, the need to plan and design the restoring and retrofitting of buildings, and also to quantify and manage the ruins. Goal of such surveys was the description of the structures geometry with a centimetric precision and a high level of reliability. Recently, the authors have conceived two tools, U.Ph.O (Unmanned Photogrammetric Office) and MAGO (Adaptive Mesh for Orthophoto Generation), dedicated to the planning and restitution phases of the survey, respectively. U.Ph.O. and MAGO are here applied to two different buildings in Norcia, i.e. the Civic Tower of Norcia and San Salvatore Church of Campi di Norcia. The former is a standing-out structure, surrounded by the complex of the historical centre, while the latter is located in an isolated site in the countryside. These features make the survey planning and the orthophoto reconstruction completely different, mainly due to the different optimal shooting geometry and the presence or absence of obstructions.