UAVs and 3D City Modeling to Aid Urban Planning and Historic Preservation: A Systematic Review

Drone imagery has the potential to enrich urban planning and historic preservation, especially where it converges with the growing creation and use of 3D models in the context of cities and metro regions. Nevertheless, the widespread adoption of drones in these fields faces limitations, and there is a shortage of research addressing this issue. Therefore, we have conducted a systematic literature review of articles published between 2002 and 2022 drawing from reputable academic repositories, including Science Direct, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), to identify current gaps in the existing research on the application of UAVs to the creation of 3D models in the contexts of urban planning and historic preservation. Our findings indicate five research shortcomings for 3D city modeling: limited participation of planning experts, research focus imbalance, lack of usage for special scenarios, lack of integration with smart city planning, and limited interdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, this study acknowledges current limitations around UAV applications and discusses possible countermeasures along with future prospects.