Monitoring of the static response of bridges and bridge-like structures under service and environmental
loading has been recently considered a valid alternative to the more classical methods based on
the measurements of the dynamic response. The paper reviews and compares some of the most common data
processing techniques used both in the dynamic and in the static monitoring, with the aim of outlining the
main differences in the characteristics of the information extracted. Subsequently, a discussion is presented,
based on experiences gathered both from practical applications and from research experiments, on advantages
and disadvantages of the static monitoring approaches. In particular, static monitoring techniques based on
the continuous measurement of strains and the influence of environmental conditions on the reliability of the
damage identification process are addressed.