3D Building Modelling with Digital Map, Lidar Data and Video Image Sequences

Abstract Three‐dimensional (3D) reconstruction and texture mapping of buildings or other man‐made objects are key aspects for 3D city landscapes. An effective coarse‐to‐fine approach for 3D building model generation and texture mapping based on digital photogrammetric techniques is proposed. Three video image sequences, two oblique views of building walls and one vertical view of building roofs, acquired by a digital video camera mounted on a helicopter, are used as input images. Lidar data and a coarse two‐dimensional (2D) digital vector map used for car navigation are also used as information sources. Automatic aerial triangulation (AAT) suitable for a high overlap image sequence is used to give initial values of camera parameters of each image. To obtain accurate image lines, the correspondence between outlines of the building and their line features in the image sequences is determined with a coarse‐to‐fine strategy. A hybrid point/line bundle adjustment is used to ensure the stability and accuracy of reconstruction. Reconstructed buildings with fine textures superimposed on a digital elevation model (DEM) and ortho‐image are realistically visualised. Experimental results show that the proposed approach of 3D city model generation has a promising future in many applications.