Possibilities of Using UAV for Estimating Earthwork Volumes during Process of Repairing a Small-Scale Forest Road, Case Study from Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

Although forest road networks are an important infrastructure for forestry, recreation, and sustainable forest management, they have a considerable effect on the environment. Therefore, a detailed analysis of the various benefits and associated costs of road network construction is needed. The cost of earthwork in road construction can be estimated based on the change in topography before and after construction. However, accurate estimation of the earthwork volume may not be possible on steep terrain where soil placement is limited. In this study, an unmanned aerial vehicle was flown under the tree canopy six times during a road repair work to measure the changes in topography using structure from motion analysis. Comparing the obtained 3D model with the measurement results from the total station, the average vertical error and root mean square error were −0.146 m and 0.098 m, respectively, suggesting its good accuracy for measuring an earthwork volume. Compared to the amount of earthwork estimated from the topographic changes before and after the repair work, the actual earthwork volume was 3.5 times greater for cutting and 1.9 times greater for filling. This method can be used to calculate the earthwork volume accurately for designing forest road networks on steep terrain.