The geodetic monitoring of local displacements and deformations is often needed for civil engineering structures and natural phenomena like, for example, landslides. A local permanent GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) network can be installed: receiver positions in the interest area are estimated and monitored with respect to reference stations. Usually, GNSS geodetic receivers are adopted and provide results with accuracies at the millimeter level: however, they are very expensive and the initial cost and the risk of damage and loss can discourage this approach. In this paper the accuracy and the reliability of low-cost u-blox GNSS receivers are experimentally investigated for local monitoring. Two experiments are analyzed. In the first, a baseline (65 m long) between one geodetic reference receiver and one u-blox is continuously observed for one week: the data are processed by hourly sessions and the results provide comparisons between two processing packages and a preliminary accuracy assessment. Then, a network composed of one geodetic and two u-blox receivers is set up. One u-blox is installed on a device (slide) that allows to apply controlled displacements. The geodetic and the other u-blox (at about 130 m) act as references. The experiment lasts about two weeks. The data are again processed by hourly sessions. The estimated displacements of the u-blox on the slide are analyzed and compared with the imposed displacements. All of the results are encouraging: in the first experiment the standard deviations of the residuals are smaller than 5 mm both in the horizontal and vertical; in the second, they are slightly worse but still satisfactory (5 mm in the horizontal and 13 mm in vertical) and the imposed displacements are almost correctly identified.

Two problems can arise in analyzing Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Firstly, one interest region could be patched by several partly overlapping models that present similar accuracies and spatial resolutions; they should be merged in one unified model. Moreover, even when the interest region is completely covered by one model, local data with better accuracy could cover partial areas and should be properly merged. All these problems have been addressed within Helvetia-Italy Digital Elevation Model, a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). One specific aim of the project was the creation and the publication of a unified DEM for a part of the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. The interest area is prevalently mountainous, with elevations that range from about 200 to 4600 m. Various elevation datasets were available that were gridded with different spatial resolutions, in different reference frames and coordinates. Moreover, one high resolution LiDAR model was available for some areas. Firstly, a validation was performed that allowed the identification of few blunders and confirmed the general accuracy of the input data. Two DEMs have been produced. Both of them cover the whole project area (boundaries λ = 7.80° East and λ = 10.70° East, φ = 45.10° North and φ = 46.70° North) and are gridded in ETRF2000 geographical coordinates, with a spatial resolution of 2 × 10⁻⁴ degrees. The former (named HD-1) has been obtained by interpolating and merging all the low resolution models on a new common grid. HD-1 has been locally corrected by the LiDAR model, where it was available; to avoid sharp discontinuities, the corrections have been filtered by Fast Fourier Transform before applying them. The resulting model has been called HD-2. HD-1 and HD-2 are published by an open access geoservice.