3-dimensional interactive image modeling system

• US 20030088362A1
• Filed: 10/25/2002
• Published: 05/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ImageLinks, Inc. (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ImageLinks, Inc. (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lucas, Mark R., Melero, Kenneth, Shibla, Douglas W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,457,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models

Abstract

A system and method for generating custom geospatial information maps and precision corrected images allows realtime interactive production of a desired output image by incorporating user selectable parameters that define various image synthesizing operations. A graphical user interface allows a user to specify parameters that define the desired output image via a remote computing device over a public access network such as the Internet. The parameters define image synthesizing operations such as area, projection, datum, fusion, masking, blending, mosaiking, resampling, and others. The desired output image is processed by an image assembly server according to the parameters and a variety of geospatial image data sources, and electronically delivered to a user via a public access network. The geospatial information may also be correlated with non-georeferenced data such that relevant associations between non-georeferenced data and the geospatial data are integrated in the output information product. A user may therefore receive a desired output image that conforms to a variety of user-specified parameters interactively via an image assembly server, and interactively update and refine the desired output image via the graphical user interface, thereby providing an active archive of a set of images that can be revised dynamically.

Claims

1. A method of correlating non-georeferenced data to geospatial data comprising:

providing at least one geospatial data file having a geospatial image and indicative of a geographic location;

identifying at least one geographic reference in the geospatial image;

providing at least one non-georeference data file;

identifying a non-georeferenced digital data item in the non-georeference data file;

defining an association between the geographic reference and the non-georeferenced digital data item; and

correlating the non-georeferenced digital data item and the geographic reference to generate an output information product indicative of the association between the geospatial data and the non-georeferenced digital data item.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

repeating the identifying the geographic reference, identifying the non-georeferenced digital data item, and defining the associations to generate a plurality of associations;

and

storing the associations in an association database.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the geospatial data files, the non-georeference data files, and the defined associations in a database operable to be accessed by an image assembly server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the association is indicative of a degree of relevance the non-georeferenced digital data item bears to the geographic reference.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the associations further comprise dicrete associations and indirect associations.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the associations further comprise automated associations and interactive associations, the automated associations computed by a data comparison operation and the interactive associations determined via a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

7. The method of claim 6 wherein identifying the automated associations further comprise parsing the non-georeference data file for data indicative of a geospatial reference.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein identifying the interactive associations further comprises:

displaying at least a portion of the geospatial data file to a user, the portion further including the geographic reference;

displaying at least a portion of the non-georeferenced digital data item; and

identifying, via a point-and-click graphical user interface, the association between the geospatial reference and the non-georeference digital data item.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the correlating further comprises resampling a plurality of geospatial data files and the corresponding associations.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein resampling further comprises resampling with at least one product specification file.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the non-georeferenced data further consists of data selected from the group consisting of text files, ASCII files, document files, URLs, http files, .tif files, .jpeg files, .mpeg file, .mp3 files, .pdf files, executable files, streaming audio, streaming video, digital images, and graphic files.

12. A system for generating associations between non-georeferenced data and geospatial data for geospatial information output products compsising:

a geospatial database having geospatial data;

at least one geospatial data file in the geospatial database indicative of a geographic location;

a non-georeference database having non-georeferenced digital data;

at least one non-georeferenced data item in the non-georeference database;

an association manager operable to read the geospatial data file and the non-georeferenced data item and further operable to define an association between a geographic reference in the geospatial data file and the non-georeferenced data item;

a graphical user interface (GUI) operable to receive the geospatial data file and the non-georeferenced data item and receive a user input indicative of the association, the association manager responsive to the GUI; and

an association database in communication with the association manager and operable to store the associations.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the association manager is further operable to repeat:

defining the associations to generate a plurality of associations; and

storing the associations in a database.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the association manager is further operable to define associations indicative of a degree of relevance the non-georeferenced digital data item bears to the geographic reference.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the association manager is further operable to define dicrete associations and indirect associations.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the association manager is further operable to compute automated associations and interactive associations, the automated associations computed by a data comparison operation and the interactive associations determined via a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the association manager is further operable to parse the non-georeference database for data indicative of a geospatial reference and generating automated associations therefrom.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the association manager is further operable to identify the interactive associations via a point-and-click graphical user interface (GUI).

19. The system of claim 12 further comprising an image assembly server operable for communication with the association manager for generating a geospatial output information product indicative of the correlation between the geospatial data file and the non-georeferenced data item.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the image assembly server is further operable to resample a plurality of geospatial data files and the corresponding associations.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the image assembly server is further operable to resample with at least one product specification file.

22. The system of claim 12 wherein the non-georeferenced data further consists of data selected from the group consisting of text files, ASCII files, document files, URLs, http files, .tif files, .jpeg files, .mpeg file, .mp3 files, .pdf files, executable files, streaming audio, streaming video, digital images, and graphic files.

23. A method of interactively generating geospatial image maps comprising:

gathering, from a plurality of geospatial sensors, raw geospatial data and non-georeferenced data;

determining, for the raw geospatial data, correction data indicative of sensor based inaccuracies in the raw geospatial data;

staging the raw geospatial data using the correction data to produce a plurality of raw geospatial files and a plurality of geometry files each including correcting metadata;

storing the plurality of raw geospatial files and the plurality of geometry filing in a geospatial database adapted to store geospatial image data including raw geospatial data and correcting metadata;

assembling, from the plurality of geometry files and the non-georeferenced data, a resampling file set including the geometry files and the raw geospatial data files corresponding to the desired output image;

processing, in a resampling engine, the resampling file set to produce the desired output image; and

transmitting, to a user, the desired output image.

24. A computer program product having computer program code for correlating non-georeferenced data to geospatial data comprising:

computer program code for providing at least one geospatial data file having a geospatial image and indicative of a geographic location;

computer program code for identifying at least one geographic reference in the geospatial image;

computer program code for providing at least one non-georeference data file;

computer program code for identifying a non-georeferenced digital data item in the non-georeference data file;

computer program code for defining an association between the geographic reference and the non-georeferenced digital data item; and

computer program code for correlating the non-georeferenced digital data item and the geographic reference to generate an output information product indicative of the association between the geospatial data and the non-georeferenced digital data item.

25. A system for generating associations between non-georeferenced data and geospatial data for geospatial information output products compsising:

means for providing at least one geospatial data file having a geospatial image and indicative of a geographic location;

means for identifying at least one geographic reference in the geospatial image;

means for providing at least one non-georeference data file;

means for identifying a non-georeferenced digital data item in the non-georeference data file;

means for defining an association between the geographic reference and the non-georeferenced digital data item; and

means for correlating the non-georeferenced digital data item and the geographic reference to generate an output, information product indicative of the association between the geospatial data and the non-georeferenced digital data item.