Time Series of Structure-from-Motion Products-Orthomosaics, Digital Elevation Models, and Point Clouds: Madeira Beach, Florida, July 2017 to June 2018

Aerial imagery acquired with a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS), in conjunction with surveyed ground control points (GCP) visible in the imagery, can be processed with structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques to produce high-resolution orthomosaics, three-dimensional (3D) point clouds and digital elevation models (DEMs). This dataset, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC), provides UAS survey data products consisting of orthomosaics, DEMs and point clouds collected at Madeira Beach, Florida, from July 2017 to June 2018 in order to observe seasonal and storm-induced changes in beach topography.

Photogrammetry software was used to perform SfM processing on low-altitude digital aerial imagery acquired with a 3DR Solo UAS quadcopter equipped with a Ricoh GR II digital camera, using surveyed permanent features (e.g., parking lot stripes, concrete groin blocks) and temporary targets (black and white, 4-square checked pattern) distributed uniformly throughout the UAS flight operations area as GCPs. The following SfM products are produced for each UAS survey over the approximately 700-meter-long and 100-meter-wide stretch of coastline:

- georeferenced orthomosaic image with 5-centimeter resolution
- DEM with 5-centimeter horizontal resolution
- 3D RGB-colored point cloud

All horizontal data is given in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projected coordinate system, Zone 17 North (17N), referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83 (2011)), and elevation is referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88), GEOID12B.