Kinematic positioning: From mobile mapping systems to unmanned aerial vehicles at Pisa University

Since the 1990s, with the availability of satellite positioning techniques, enabling to determine three-dimensional point coordinates in a global reference system with topographic accuracy, several applications dedicated to mapping of the territory by means of mobile geo-referenced sensors have steadily been developed. This paper discusses the experiences gained in this field at the University of Pisa - Laboratory of Topography over more than twenty years of experimental work. These activities, often conducted in cooperation with the University of Trieste and in particular with Professor Giorgio Manzoni, have always featured a multidisciplinary approach. Different types of sensors have been installed, at first in land-based vehicles and currently on unmanned aerial systems: GPSs, GNSSs and INSs, carbon monoxide and particulate matter measuring systems, single- and multiple-axis laser scanners, industrial and photography cameras. Use of these sensors, besides drafting and testing maps of the territory in several areas (cartography, road cadastre, pollution monitoring, city modelling...), allowed to keep track of the development of instrumentation and methods of kinematic positioning.