PROGRAMME

Site inspections of the road network and the infrastructures in forest areas are crucial for development and protection of natural environment from several disasters such as forest fires. A digital topographical map can be an administrative tool to the Civil Protection and to Forest Offices for infrastructure inspection. The road network is usually inspected twice a year before the fire protection period by the forest service authorities, in order to record any abnormalities such as landslides and soil erosions and to secure the movement of the fire fighting vehicles. These inspections have major cost and working hours for the services’ personnel. Due to the long length of the road-network the inspections are not carried out adequately and the implementation of repairs is delayed. This paper demonstrates the evaluation of a low-cost UAVs for the production of maps in order to implement photogrammetry analysis for observation of the functionality of road network. A case-study in the university forest of Taxiarchis - Chalkidiki, Greece is presented. Drone flights have taken place in the study area and orthophotos have been analyzed. The method is being compared with the regular in-situ methods in terms of cost and quality. Low-cost and fast inspection could ensure the damage repair and the safe movement of ground fire-firefighting vehicles.