SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VISUALIZING AND MEASURING REAL WORLD 3-D SPATIAL DATA

• US 20080131029A1
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Brandon J. Baker, Robert M. Vashisth, Stanley E. Coleby
• Original Assignee: Brandon J. Baker, Robert M. Vashisth, Stanley E. Coleby
• Inventors: Vashisth, Robert M., Coleby, Stanley E., Baker, Brandon J.
• Application Number:
  US11/869,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20080131029A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/00 Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models

Abstract

Systems and methods for viewing and measuring real world 3-D spatial data using corresponding image data and interpolation of low resolution 3-D spatial data is disclosed. Image data and 3-D spatial data are organized as a 3-D polygonal model. The resultant 3-D polygonal model may be viewed, measured or edited efficiently on a computer. The image data and 3-D data are aligned, and a point on the polygonal model may be measured. Additionally, low resolution 3-D spatial data and image data may be combined with high resolution and highly accurate 3-D spatial data and image data. The resultant combination of data sets may then be organized, aligned, viewed, measured or edited in an efficient manner on a computer.

Claims

1. A system for viewing and measuring 3-D spatial data using corresponding image data and interpolation of low resolution 3-D spatial data, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to;

align image data and low resolution 3-D spatial data;

view 3-D spatial data and corresponding image data;

organize 3-D spatial data and corresponding image data as a 3-D polygonal model to be viewed, measured or edited in an efficient manner on a computer;

measure a point on the polygonal model consisting of 3-D spatial data and image data.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein organizing corresponding image data in an efficient manner comprises sizing image data into horizontal and vertical dimensions each being a power of two in size.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein sizing image data into horizontal and vertical dimensions each being a power of two in size comprises segmenting image data to smaller sections to efficiently fit in memory on graphics hardware.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein organizing 3-D spatial data comprises organizing vertex data as triangular polygon, quad, point list, line list, line strip, triangle list, triangle strip, triangle fan, or other form of 3-D graphics data known to those skilled in the art.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein aligning image data and low resolution 3-D spatial data comprises matching the points of image data to 3-D spatial data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein measuring a point on the polygonal model comprises a ray tracing algorithm.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein measuring a point on the polygonal model comprises sinc, quadratic, cubic, spline, or other interpolation technique.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein 3-D spatial data comprises of a digital elevation model (DEM), a digital terrain model (DTM), contour data, aerial light detection and ranging (LIDAR) scan data, photogrammetric, or other.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein image data comprises an orthorectified image, multi-spectral image, IR spectral image, aerial photograph, elevation map, normal map, shadow map, or other data that may be represented visually.

10. A system for viewing and measuring multiple data sets of high resolution and highly accurate data with low resolution 3-D spatial data and image data, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to;

align image data and 3-D spatial data;

view 3-D spatial data and corresponding image data;

organize 3-D spatial data and corresponding image data as a 3-D polygonal model to be viewed, measured or edited in an efficient manner on a computer; and

,

measure a point on the polygonal model consisting of 3-D spatial data and image data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the high resolution, highly accurate 3-D spatial data comprises data acquired from a terrestrial LIDAR scanner.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the high resolution, highly accurate 3-D spatial data comprises 3-D spatial data with corresponding image data.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein organizing corresponding image data in an efficient manner comprises sizing image data into horizontal and vertical dimensions each being a power of two in size.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein sizing image data into horizontal and vertical dimensions each being a power of two in size comprises segmenting image data to smaller sections to efficiently fit in memory on graphics hardware.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein organizing 3-D spatial data comprises organizing vertex data as triangular polygon, quad, point list, line list, line strip, triangle list, triangle strip, triangle fan, or other form of 3-D graphics data known to those skilled in the art.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein aligning image data and low resolution 3-D spatial data comprises matching the points of image data to 3-D spatial data.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein measuring a point on the polygonal model comprises a ray tracing algorithm.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein measuring a point on the polygonal model comprises sinc, quadratic, cubic, spline, or other interpolation technique.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the low resolution 3-D spatial data comprises of a digital elevation model (DEM), a digital terrain model (DTM), contour data, aerial light detection and ranging (LIDAR) scan data, photogrammetric, or other.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein image data corresponding to low resolution 3-D spatial data comprises an orthorectified image, multi-spectral image, IR spectral image, aerial photograph, elevation map, normal map, shadow map, or other data that may be represented visually.