Aerial roof estimation systems and methods

• US 8,078,436 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EagleView Technologies Incorporated (Eagleview Technologies, Inc. /Wa/)
• Original Assignee: EagleView Technologies Incorporated (Eagleview Technologies, Inc. /Wa/)
• Inventors: Pershing, Chris, Carlson, David P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Craig, Dwin M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cothran, Bernard E
• Application Number:
  US12/253,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20090132436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 703/2, 705/306, 705/313, 705/4
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/20 Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, tesselation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/08 involving all processing steps from image acquisition to 3D model generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10032 Satellite or aerial image; Remote sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30184 Infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/04 Architectural design, interior design
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/004 Annotating, labelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/32 using correlation-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/337 involving reference images or patches

Abstract

Methods and systems for roof estimation are described. Example embodiments include a roof estimation system, which generates and provides roof estimate reports annotated with indications of the size, geometry, pitch and/or orientation of the roof sections of a building. Generating a roof estimate report may be based on one or more aerial images of a building. In some embodiments, generating a roof estimate report of a specified building roof may include generating a three-dimensional model of the roof, and generating a report that includes one or more views of the three-dimensional model, the views annotated with indications of the dimensions, area, and/or slope of sections of the roof. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A computing system for generating a roof estimate report, the computing system comprising:

a memory;

a roof estimation module that is stored on the memory and that is configured, when executed, to;

receive a first and a second aerial image of a building having a roof, each of the aerial images providing a different view of the roof of the building;

correlate the first aerial image with the second aerial image;

generate, based at least in part on the correlation between the first and second aerial images, a three-dimensional model of the roof that includes a plurality of planar roof sections that each have a corresponding slope, area, and edges; and

generate and transmit a roof estimate report that includes one or more top plan views of the three-dimensional model annotated with numerical values that indicate the corresponding slope, area, and length of edges of at least some of the plurality of planar roof sections using at least two different indicia for different types of roof properties.

2. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the roof estimation module is further configured to correlate the first and second aerial images by receiving an indication of one or more corresponding points on the building shown in each of the first and second aerial images.

3. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the roof estimation module is further configured to generate the three-dimensional model by receiving an indication of at least one of a ridgeline of the roof, a valley of the roof, an edge of the roof, a hip of the roof, and a gable of the roof.

4. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the roof estimation module is further configured to receive the first and second aerial image from an image source computing system.

5. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the roof estimation module is further configured to generate the roof estimate report by generating an electronic file that includes an image of the building along with line drawings of the one or more top plan views of the three-dimensional model.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the roof estimate report includes initiating printing of the one or more top plan views of the three-dimensional model.

7. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include different roof measurements, and the at least two different indicia include at least one of:

length, slope, and area.

8. The computing system of claim 7 wherein the length is located adjacent to a line representing a segment, the slope is located next to an arrow indicating direction of the slope and the area is located within a section having the area.

9. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include different roof features, and the at least two different indicia include different graphical representations of the different roof features.

10. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge line and a valley line and the at least two different indicia include one color of a line associated with a ridge and a different color of a line associated with a valley.

11. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include at least one of:

a roof section, a roof segment, a roof valley, a ridge, a roof size, a roof geometry, a roof measurement, a roof dimension, slope, length and area.

12. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the at least two different indicia include at least one of:

different line color, different line weight, different visual characteristics of a line, different characters, different color of characters, different visual characteristics of characters, different measurements, different visual characteristics of measurements, different placement of measurements with respect to lines, different symbols, different visual characteristics of symbols and different placement of measurements with respect to symbols.

13. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge length and a valley length and the at least two different indicia include one color of a line associated with a ridge and a different color of a line associated with a valley.

14. The computing system of claim 13 wherein the one color of the line associated with the ridge is red and the different color of the line associated with the valley is blue.

15. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge and the at least two different indicia include a ridge length indicia, wherein the ridge length indicia is a ridge line with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

16. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include a valley and the at least two different indicia include a valley length indicia, wherein the valley length indicia is a valley line with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

17. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the different types of roof properties include a slope and the at least two different indicia include a slope indicia, wherein the slope indicia is an arrow in a direction of the slope with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

18. A computer-implemented method for generating a roof estimate, the method comprising:

receiving a first and a second aerial image of a building having a roof, each of the aerial images providing a different view of the roof of the building;

correlating the first aerial image with the second aerial image;

generating, based at least in part on the correlation between the first and second aerial images, a three-dimensional model of the roof that includes a plurality of planar roof sections that each have a corresponding slope, area, and edges; and

transmitting a roof estimate report that includes one or more top plan views of the three-dimensional model annotated with numerical indications of at least one of the slope, area, and lengths of the edges of the plurality of planar roof sections, wherein the roof estimate report includes at least two different indicia for different types of roof properties.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein identifying the building includes receiving a street address of the building.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein correlating the first and second aerial images includes receiving an indication of one or more corresponding points shown in each of the first and second aerial images.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein receiving the indication of the corresponding point includes receiving the indication from a user.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein generating the three-dimensional model includes receiving an indication of at least one of a ridgeline of the roof, a valley of the roof, an edge of the roof, a hip of the roof, and a gable of the roof.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating the roof estimate report, the roof estimate report being a data file that includes an image of the building along with line drawings of the one or more top plan views of the three-dimensional model.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein transmitting the roof estimate report includes transmitting a data file that includes the one or more top plan views of the three-dimensional model.

25. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include different roof measurements, and the at least two different indicia include at least one of:

length, slope, and area.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the length is located adjacent to a line representing a segment, the slope is located next to an arrow indicating direction of the slope and the area is located within a section having the area.

27. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include different roof features, and the at least two different indicia include different graphical representations of the different roof features.

28. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge line and a valley line and the at least two different indicia include one color of a line associated with a ridge and a different color of a line associated with a valley.

29. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include at least one of:

a roof section, a roof segment, a roof valley, a ridge, a roof size, a roof geometry, a roof measurement, a roof dimension, slope, length and area.

30. The method of claim 18 wherein the at least two different indicia include at least one of:

different line color, different line weight, different visual characteristics of a line, different characters, different color of characters, different visual characteristics of characters, different measurements, different visual characteristics of measurements, different placement of measurements with respect to lines, different symbols, different visual characteristics of symbols and different placement of measurements with respect to symbols.

31. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge length and a valley length and the at least two different indicia include one color of a line associated with a ridge and a different color of a line associated with a valley.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the one color of the line associated with the ridge is red and the different color of the line associated with the valley is blue.

33. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge and the at least two different indicia include a ridge length indicia, wherein the ridge length indicia is a ridge line with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

34. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include a valley and the at least two different indicia include a valley length indicia, wherein the valley length indicia is a valley line with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

35. The method of claim 18 wherein the different types of roof properties include a slope and the at least two different indicia include a slope indicia, wherein the slope indicia is an arrow in a direction of the slope with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

36. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium whose contents enable a computing system to generate a roof estimate report for a building having a roof, by performing a method comprising:

receiving one or more images of the building;

generating, based on the one or more images of the building, a model of the roof that includes a plurality of planar roof sections that each have a corresponding area and edges; and

transmitting a roof estimate report that includes one or more views of the model, the report being annotated with numerical indications of the area and lengths of the edges of at least some of the plurality of planar roof sections, wherein the roof estimate report includes at least two different indicia for different types of roof properties.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein generating the model includes generating a three-dimensional model based on a correlation between two of the one or more images.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the method further comprises generating the roof estimate report, the roof estimate report including annotated line drawings of each of the one or more views of the model.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the one or more images of the building are images obtained from at least one of an aircraft, satellite, and ground-based platform, and wherein the one or more views of the model are top-down line drawing views of the model.

40. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein generating the model of the roof includes automatically identifying at least some features of the roof for inclusion in the model.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing system to perform the method.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the method further comprises transmitting to a remote computing system a computer-readable data file that includes a representation of the model.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein generating the model of the roof includes generating a two-dimensional model of the roof based on a single image that provides a substantially top-down view of the roof.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 43 further comprising:

presenting the model to a customer; and

modifying the model of the roof based on input received from the customer, the input indicating a slope corresponding to one of the plurality of planar roof sections, wherein transmitting the roof estimate report includes generating a roof estimate report based on the modified model.

45. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 43 further comprising:

modifying the model of the roof based on input received from a customer, the input identifying a ridge or valley of the roof, wherein transmitting the roof estimate report includes generating a roof estimate report based on the modified model.

46. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include different roof measurements, and the at least two different indicia include at least one of:

length, slope, and area.

47. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 46 wherein the length is located adjacent to a line representing a segment, the slope is located next to an arrow indicating direction of the slope and the area is located within a section having the area.

48. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include different roof features, and the at least two different indicia include different graphical representations of the different roof features.

49. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge line and a valley line and the at least two different indicia include one color of a line associated with a ridge and a different color of a line associated with a valley.

50. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include at least one of:

a roof section, a roof segment, a roof valley, a ridge, a roof size, a roof geometry, a roof measurement, a roof dimension, slope, length and area.

51. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the at least two different indicia include at least one of:

different line color, different line weight, different visual characteristics of a line, different characters, different color of characters, different visual characteristics of characters, different measurements, different visual characteristics of measurements, different placement of measurements with respect to lines, different symbols, different visual characteristics of symbols and different placement of measurements with respect to symbols.

52. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge length and a valley length and the at least two different indicia include one color of a line associated with a ridge and a different color of a line associated with a valley.

53. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 52 wherein the one color of the line associated with the ridge is red and the different color of the line associated with the valley is blue.

54. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include a ridge and the at least two different indicia include a ridge length indicia, wherein the ridge length indicia is a ridge line with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

55. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include a valley and the at least two different indicia include a valley length indicia, wherein the valley length indicia is a valley line with a numerical value adjacent thereto.

56. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the different types of roof properties include a slope and the at least two different indicia include a slope indicia, wherein the slope indicia is an arrow in a direction of the slope with a numerical value adjacent thereto.