1. A method for generating panoramic aerial images, comprising: (a) causing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carrying an image capturing device to hover near a predetermined location in air, the image capturing device coupled to the UAV via a carrier, the carrier configured to permit the image capturing device to rotate around at least two orthogonal axes, the at least two axes comprising a first axis and a second axis; (b) controlling the carrier to, while the UAV is hovering near the predetermined location in air, (1) rotate the image capturing device by a predetermined angle of rotation around the first axis, and (2) stabilize the image capturing device such that the image capturing device substantially maintains a predetermined spatial disposition with respect to at least the second axis during the rotation of the image capturing device; (c) capturing, by the image capturing device, a plurality of successive images at predetermined intervals during the rotation of the image capturing device around the first axis; and (d) generating, collectively or individually by one or more processors onboard the UAV, a panoramic image based on the plurality of images.