Geographical data collecting device

• US 8,717,432 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2009
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Inventors: Otani, Hitoshi, Nakamura, Mitsutaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuong
• Application Number:
  US12/380,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20090225161A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,897 Days
• Field of Search: 348/103, 348/106, 348/135, 382/113, 382/106, 382/190, 382/209, 382/278, 356/139.01, 356/4.04, 356/4.03, 356/4.01, 356/5.02
• US Class Current: 348/135
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/12 the pictures being supported in the same relative position as when they were taken

Abstract

The present invention provides a geographical data collecting device, which comprises a distance measuring unit 5 for projecting a distance measuring light and for measuring a distance to an object to be measured, an image pickup unit 3 for taking an image in a measuring direction, a display unit 6 for displaying an image picked up, a touch panel installed to match a position of screen of the display unit, a tilt sensor 11 for detecting a tilting, an azimuth sensor 12 for detecting a horizontal angle in the measuring direction, and a control arithmetic unit 8, wherein the image pickup unit takes an image of a measurement range, acquires a reference image, is directed to a selected measuring point in the reference image, and acquires a measured image with the measuring point as a center, and wherein said control arithmetic unit calculates the measuring point in the reference image through an image matching of the reference image and the measured image and displays a measuring point on at least one of the reference image or the measured image.

Claims

1. A geographical data collecting device, comprising:

a distance measuring unit for projecting a distance measuring light and for measuring a distance to an object to be measured,

an image pickup unit for taking an image in a measuring direction,

a display unit for displaying said taken image,

a touch panel installed to match a position of screen of said display unit,

a tilt sensor for detecting a tilting,

an azimuth sensor for detecting a horizontal angle in the measuring direction, and

a control arithmetic unit, wherein said control arithmetic unit;

takes an image of a measurement range using said image pickup unit,

displays said taken image of said measurement range as a reference image on said display unit,

acquires a measured image with a measuring point as a center using said image pickup unit,

determines a distance from said geographical data collecting device to said acquired measuring point using said distance measuring unit,

uses image matching to calculate the location of the measuring point in said reference image,

repeats said acquires, determines and uses steps for at least one additional measuring point, and

displays previously measured measuring points on said reference image.

2. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 1, wherein said measured image includes the measuring points and is a part of an image taken by said image pickup unit, and wherein a center of a searching range for the purpose of matching in said reference image is set up according to a vertical angle and a horizontal angle obtained by said tilt sensor and said azimuth sensor at the time when said measured image is acquired.

3. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 2, wherein said control arithmetic unit sets said searching range to such a range as to include an extent of measurement errors of said tilt sensor and said azimuth sensor with respect to said measured image.

4. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 3, wherein said control arithmetic unit displays a plurality of measuring points to match a plurality of measurements on said reference image and calculates a horizontal distance between two measuring points on said reference image as designated via said touch panel.

5. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 3, wherein said control arithmetic unit displays a plurality of measuring points to match a plurality of measurements on said reference image and calculates a horizontal area enclosed by at least three measuring points on said reference image as designated via said touch panel.

6. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 1, wherein said control arithmetic unit sets, as reference, the vertical angle, the horizontal angle and the azimuth angle measured by said tilt sensor and said azimuth sensor at the time when said reference image is taken and compensates a vertical angle and a horizontal angle according to the measuring points calculated based on the result of matching.

7. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 1, further comprising a GPS device, wherein said control arithmetic unit determines the measuring points through the matching of said reference image and said measured image based on geographical data obtained by the GPS device and based on the vertical angle, the horizontal angle and the azimuth angle which are initial values of the matching and are measured by said tilt sensor and said azimuth sensor when said reference image is taken, said control arithmetic unit corrects the vertical angle and the horizontal angle based on the measuring points obtained, and said control arithmetic unit calculates the three-dimensional coordinates of the measuring point based on the corrected vertical angle and the corrected horizontal angle and on the results of distance measurement.

8. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 7, further comprising a radio receiving unit, wherein compensation information is received by said radio receiving unit, and measurement result measured by said GPS device is compensated according to said compensation information.

9. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 1, wherein said azimuth sensor is a magnetic azimuth sensor and determines data of total circumference in horizontal direction and in vertical direction before use of said geographical data collecting device, performs compensation by interpolation based on the data of total circumference, and compensates the results of detection.

10. The geographical data collecting device according to claim 1, wherein said control arithmetic unit determines a second measuring point on said reference image through image matching of said reference image and said measured image, said control arithmetic unit determines a third measuring point on said measured image through reverse image matching from said reference image to said measured image, and in case the coordinates of said third measuring point on said measured image do not concur with the coordinates of the first measuring point obtained at the time of measurement, it is judged as mis-matching, and said control arithmetic unit permits to designate the measuring point on said reference image manually from the touch panel, and said control arithmetic unit performs re-matching of said reference image and said measured image based on the designated measuring point.

11. A method of collecting geographical data, using a geographical data collecting device comprising an image pickup unit, a display unit, a distance measuring unit and an arithmetic unit, said method comprising:

taking an image of a measurement range using said image pickup unit;

displaying said image on said display unit as a reference image;

selecting a measuring point in said reference image;

acquiring a measured image with the measuring point as a center using said image pickup unit;

determining a distance from said geographical data collecting device to said measuring point using said distance measuring unit;

using image matching to calculate the location of said measuring point in said reference image using said control arithmetic unit;

displaying the measuring point on said reference image; and

repeating said selecting, acquiring, determining, using, and

displaying steps for at least one additional measuring point, wherein each measuring point remains displayed on said reference image.