Recording digital aerial images using an airplane or helicopter equipped with a digital camera system, a gyro-stabilized platform and a GPS receiver is state-of-the-art of aerial survey mapping services. This equipment is expensive in acquisition. But also the running expenses, in particular the expenses for the flights themselves carry considerable weight. The consequence is that the products of aerial survey like orthophotos, DTMs and others are on a high price level. A way to reduce costs is to use more economical air vehicles and equip it with highly efficient SLR cameras.

Gyrocopters are lightweight aircrafts of great simplicity, high mission readiness and low acquisition and maintenance costs. With the increasing availability of Gyrocopters on the market the idea was borne to develop a Gyrocopter based aerial imaging system. The paper presents our prototype system for recording aerial images and shows first results of successful image flights. A test covers the downtown of Stuttgart. The results of the aerial triangulation, orthophoto generation (using LiDAR data as DSM) and orthophoto mosaicking are presented and discussed.