Unmanned aerial image dataset: Ready for 3D reconstruction

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become popular platforms for collecting various types of geospatial data for various mapping, monitoring and modelling applications. With the advancement of imaging and computing technologies, a vast variety of photogrammetric, computer-vision and, nowadays, end-to-end learning workflows are introduced to produce three-dimensional (3D) information in form of digital surface and terrain models, textured meshes, rectified mosaics, CAD models, etc. These 3D products might be used in applications where accuracy and precision play a vital role, e.g. structural health monitoring. Therefore, extensive tests against data with relevant characteristics and reliable ground-truth are required to assess and ensure the performance of 3D modelling workflows. This article describes the images collected by a customized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system from an open-pit gravel mine accompanied with additional data that will allow implementing and evaluating any structure-from-motion or photogrammetric approach for sparse or dense 3D reconstruction. This dataset includes total of 158 high-quality images captured with more than 80% endlap and spatial resolution higher than 1.5 cm, the 3D coordinates of 109 ground control points and checkpoints, 2D coordinates of more than 40K corresponding points among the images, a subset of 25 multi-view stereo images selected from an area of approximately 30 m × 40 m within the scene accompanied with a dense point cloud measured by a terrestrial laser scanner.