Evaluation of the Impact of Different Flight Planning Scenarios and Field Data on the Accuracy of Photogrammetric Products

Abstract. The growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and low-cost non-metric cameras in aerial photogrammetric surveys has highlighted the necessity and importance of optimal flight planning and control point design. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various flight design scenarios and field data configurations on the accuracy of photogrammetric products. Aerial image acquisition was carried out using two types of non-metric cameras over two study areas located in Yazd and Kerman, Iran. The influence of camera calibration, as well as the accuracy of tie point extraction, was assessed through aerial triangulation using both ground control points (GCPs) and check points (CPs).Subsequently, four flight design scenarios were analyzed, including:1.Increasing the spacing between GCPs, 2. Reducing the longitudinal overlap, 3. Reducing the lateral overlap, and 4. Simultaneouslyreducing both longitudinal and lateral overlaps.For each scenario, error propagation and photogrammetric network accuracy wereevaluated.The results indicate that the greatest variations in error occurred along the vertical (Z) direction across all scenarios, whilehorizontal components (X and Y) exhibited negligible changes. Overall, increasing the spacing between GCPs led to reducedaccuracy at check points—particularly in the Z direction—despite lower residuals at the GCPs themselves. A reduction inlongitudinal overlap resulted in higher errors in both study areas, while reduced lateral overlap mainly increased vertical errors. Thesimultaneous reduction of both longitudinal and lateral overlaps yielded the highest total error across the network.