Accuracy Comparison of Digital Surface Models Created by Unmanned Aerial Systems Imagery and Terrestrial Laser Scanner

Abstract. The main focus of the paper is a comparative study in which we have investigated, whether automatically generated digital surface models (DSM) obtained from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) imagery are comparable with DSM obtained from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). The research is conducted at a pilot dike for coastal engineering. The effort and the achievable accuracy of both DSMs are compared. The error budgets of these two methods are investigated and the models obtained in each case compared against each other.