A method and system for navigation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in
an urban environment are provided. The method comprises capturing a first
set of Global Positioning System (GPS)-tagged images in an initial
fly-over of the urban environment at a first altitude, with each of the
GPS-tagged images being related to respective GPS-aided positions. The
captured GPS-tagged images are stitched together into an image mosaic
using the GPS-aided positions. A second set of images is captured in a
subsequent fly-over of the urban environment at a second altitude that is
lower than the first altitude. Image features from the second set of
images are matched with image features from the image mosaic during the
subsequent fly-over. A current position of the UAV relative to the
GPS-aided positions is calculated based on the matched image features
from the second set of images and the image mosaic.