This paper reviews the major Geomatics solutions available on the market and explores their potentialities for rapid disaster assessment applications. The attention is primarily focused on the most recent satellite and airborne / UAV optical imaging systems, with the goal of providing an update that will assist the selection process when involved in Rapid Mapping. Furthermore, two relevant and on-going experiences, carried out by the authors within international cooperation frameworks, are described with special focus on hazardous events or situations in the Alpine region: (i) Rapid Mapping of mudflow event, by exploiting LiDAR data and satellite, airborne, helicopter- and UAV-based imagery; (ii) multi-temporal monitoring for displacement assessment of landslide event, by integrating multi-sensor and multi-platform Geomatics techniques. Results and lessons learnt are presented that may support the choice of the most suited Geomatics technique.