As a typology of cultural heritage, a wide range of singularities must to be taken into
account when analysing industrial heritage assets. Graphical resources have been usually employed
in heritage assets research. Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer the possibility
to obtain images of complex and difficult access areas that cannot be observed on the ground.
Furthermore, aerial images allow to analyse heritage assets as a whole. Therefore, in this work,
different photographs and videos has been carried out in the San Joaquin sugar cane factory and in
the Aguila aqueduct, located in Nerja (Spain). These images have been used to analyse both assets
as a set. Different indirect measurements on the factory chimney and irrigation water pond were
taken. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) about the use of UAV graphic
applications in heritage assets was developed. Finally, the possibilities of conventional photograph
technologies and UAV application were compared. Using UAVs allows more image acquisition
possibilities than conventional systems. However, both technologies can be complemented and
applied together when analysing heritage assets.
