The effect of the number and distribution of ground control points (GCP) on map production

Abstract

Thanks to recent advances in data collection technologies from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), very large data sets covering important surfaces with centimeter-scale resolution can be rapidly collected, resulting in the opportunity to analyze areas digitally. With the presence of a regular monitoring program carried out over a wide area, UAVs provide significant advantages in the cost of data collection. Many studies in the literature have focused on finding an effective and sustainable research strategy to limit costs and study times. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry has recently emerged as a popular solution to obtain certain products required in linear projects such as orthoimages or digital surface models. The main reason for this is the ability to provide these topographic products quickly and economically. It is important to know how many ground control points (GCPs) are required to guarantee a certain degree of accuracy and how to distribute them across the work area. The purpose of this study is to determine the number of GCPs for a work area and how to distribute them to provide higher accuracy.