Automated metric information network
First Claim
1. A method of selecting Ground Control Points (GCPs) for a geodetic network, comprising:
- with a computer, receiving more than one photographic image of the ground in a given area on the Earth;
with a computer, detecting interest points in each photographic image and generating an interest point descriptor and a geo-location for each interest point;
with a computer, clustering the interest points in the more than one photographic image based on geo-location to create clusters of interest points, wherein at least one of the clusters includes at least one interest point from a first one of the more than one photographic image and at least one interest point from a second one of the more than one photographic image;
with a computer, comparing the interest point descriptors for the interest points within each cluster;
with a computer, grouping at least some of the interest points based on the comparison; and
with a computer, selecting certain groups as GCPs that directly tie together two or more received photographic images of the ground in a given area on the ground, wherein the selecting includes considering the similarity of the geo-locations and of the descriptors of the interest points and considering the quantity of interest points within a group.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A Metric Information Network (MIN) with a plurality of Ground Control Points (GCPs) that are selected in an automated fashion. The GCP selection includes clustering algorithms as compared to prior art pair-wise matching algorithms. Further, the image processing that takes place in identifying interest points, clustering, and selecting tie points to be GCPs is all performed before the MIN is updated. By arranging for the processing to happen in this manner, the processing that is embarrassingly parallel (identifying interest points, clustering, and selecting tie points) can be performed in a distributed fashion across many computers and then the MIN can be updated.
24 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of selecting Ground Control Points (GCPs) for a geodetic network, comprising:
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with a computer, receiving more than one photographic image of the ground in a given area on the Earth; with a computer, detecting interest points in each photographic image and generating an interest point descriptor and a geo-location for each interest point; with a computer, clustering the interest points in the more than one photographic image based on geo-location to create clusters of interest points, wherein at least one of the clusters includes at least one interest point from a first one of the more than one photographic image and at least one interest point from a second one of the more than one photographic image; with a computer, comparing the interest point descriptors for the interest points within each cluster; with a computer, grouping at least some of the interest points based on the comparison; and with a computer, selecting certain groups as GCPs that directly tie together two or more received photographic images of the ground in a given area on the ground, wherein the selecting includes considering the similarity of the geo-locations and of the descriptors of the interest points and considering the quantity of interest points within a group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification