Known as the third pole of the world and the birthplace of mountains, the Qinghai—Xizang(Tibet) Plateau has the highest elevation, the largest area, and the most complex geological structure in the world, with the characteristics of thin air, harsh climate, fragile environment, high- elevation and hard- to- reach. The traditional geological fieldwork methods have been seriously restricted in these areas. In this paper, for the first, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are introduced into geological survey work at an elevation of 5000 m in northern Tibet to explore and develop UAV- based geological mapping technology. Through five different types of UAVs mapping flight tests, this paper believes that the fixed- wing and rotor UAVs can be used for fieldwork in geological fields such as large—medium scale (1∶50000 to 1∶1000) regional geological survey in high- elevation and hard- to- reach areas after upgrading the propeller, UAV airframe, UAV wing, and oblique photography platform. The improved UAV has longer theoretical life, smoother flight and greatly improved image quality. Field UAV mapping tests show that the resolution of images obtained by UAVs is better than remote sensing satellites, the local accuracy can reach up to 3 cm, and the contact relationship and texture of geological bodies are clear and obvious. The geological interpretation result is truthfulness and the overall correct rate is higher than 95%. With the advantages of low cost, fast data acquisition, high resolution and various types of equipment on board, UAV mapping technology can be combined with big data, mobile Internet, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality technology to create a safe, multi- dimensional, and high- precision virtual geological operation platform in the future to meet the needs of personalized, intelligent, real- time, and precise geological work.