Automatic Building Extraction from Image and LiDAR Data with Active Contour Segmentation

Automatic building extraction is an important topic for many applications such as urban planning, disaster management, 3D building modeling and updating GIS databases. Its approaches mainly depend on two data sources: light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud and aerial imagery both of which have advantages and disadvantages of their own. In this study, in order to benefit from the advantages of each data sources, LiDAR and image data combined together. And then, the building boundaries were extracted with the automated active contour algorithm implemented in MATLAB. Active contour algorithm uses initial contour positions to segment an object in the image. Initial contour positions were detected without user interaction by a series of image enhancements, band ratio and morphological operations. Four test areas with varying building and background levels of detail were selected from ISPRS’s benchmark Vaihingen and Istanbul datasets. Vegetation and shadows were removed from all the datasets by band ratio to improve segmentation quality. Subsequently, LiDAR point cloud data was converted to raster format and added to the aerial imagery as an extra band. Resulting merged image and initial contour positions were given to the active contour algorithm to extract building boundaries. In order to compare the contribution of LiDAR to the proposed method, the boundaries of the buildings were extracted from the input image before and after adding LiDAR data to the image as a layer. Finally extracted building boundaries were smoothed by the Awrangjeb (Int J Remote Sen 37(3): 551–579.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2015.1131868, 2016) boundary regularization algorithm. Correctness (Corr), completeness (Comp) and accuracy (Q) metrics were used to assess accuracy of segmented building boundaries by comparing extracted building boundaries with manually digitized building boundaries. Proposed approach shows the promising results with over 93% correctness, 92% completeness and 89% quality.     

机载LiDAR建筑物点云渐进提取算法

针对机载LiDAR建筑物点云提取过程中易受植被的影响的问题,本文提出了一种机载LiDAR建筑物点云的渐进提取算法。首先通过布料模拟滤波算法对地面点云与非地面点云进行区分,在此基础上利用最大类间方差法算法（Otsu）对非地面点云进行阈值分割,提取初始建筑物点云;然后根据点云的连通性对初始建筑物点云进行密度聚类分割（DBSCAN）,剔除离群噪声点;最后通过Alpha Shape算法实现建筑物点云的边缘提取。本文选取ISPRS官网提供的3组典型城区LiDAR点云数据进行试验,试验结果表明,本文算法可达到较好的建筑物点云提取效果。     

LAI and chlorophyll estimation for a heterogeneous grassland using hyperspectral measurements

The study shows that leaf area index (LAI), leaf chlorophyll content (LCC) and canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) can be mapped in a heterogeneous Mediterranean grassland from canopy spectral reflectance measurements. Canopy spectral measurements were made in the field using a GER 3700 spectroradiometer, along with concomitant in situ measurements of LAI and LCC. We tested the utility of univariate techniques involving narrow band vegetation indices and the red edge inflection point, as well as multivariate calibration techniques, including stepwise multiple linear regression and partial least squares regression. Among the various investigated models, CCC was estimated with the highest accuracy (, ). All methods failed to estimate LCC (), while LAI was estimated with intermediate accuracy ( values ranged from 0.49 to 0.69). Compared with narrow band indices and red edge inflection point, stepwise multiple linear regression generally improved the estimation of LAI. The estimations were further improved when partial least squares regression was used. When a subset of wavelengths was analyzed, it was found that partial least squares regression had reduced the error in the retrieved parameters. The results of the study highlight the significance of multivariate techniques, such as partial least squares regression, rather than univariate methods such as vegetation indices in estimating heterogeneous grass canopy characteristics.     

基于机载LiDAR数据的建筑物轮廓提取

建筑物轮廓作为建筑物三维重建的重要元素,在建立智慧城市和数字城市中至关重要。本文针对从机载激光雷达点云中提取建筑物轮廓数据处理的点云滤波、建筑物屋顶面提取、建筑物轮廓提取,以及提取精度评定各环节存在的一些问题,提出了一种综合区域生长改进算法、三维Hough变换算法和α-shape算法的建筑物轮廓提取方法。该方法在对机载LiDAR点云数据去噪的基础上,首先利用改进的区域生长算法滤波地面点,并基于地物点到地面的归一化高程特征通过高度阈值去除高度较为低矮的地物点;再基于三维Hough变换算法从剩余建筑物和高大树木点云中提取建筑物平面;最后使用α-shape算法提取建筑物的轮廓信息。对使用RIEGLVQ-1560i机载激光雷达测量系统扫描的某城区点云数据进行计算,通过匹配度、形状相似度和位置精度等评价指标对提取的建筑物轮廓进行精度评定。结果表明,综合区域生长改进算法、三维Hough变换算法和α-shape算法的建筑物轮廓提取方法可以准确提取建筑物的轮廓信息,对于大范围的建筑物轮廓提取具有稳定性和普遍适用性。     

Ground and building extraction from LiDAR data based on differential morphological profiles and locally fitted surfaces

This paper proposes a new framework for ground extraction and building detection in LiDAR data. The proposed approach constructs the connectivity of a grid over the LiDAR point-cloud in order to perform multi-scale data decomposition. This is realised by forming a top-hat scale-space using differential morphological profiles (DMPs) on points’ residuals from the approximated surface. The geometric attributes of the contained features are estimated by mapping characteristic values from DMPs. Ground definition is achieved by using features’ geometry, whilst their surface and regional attributes are additionally considered for building detection. A new algorithm for local fitting surfaces (LoFS) is proposed for extracting planar points. Finally, transitions between planar ground and non-ground regions are observed in order to separate regions of similar geometrical and surface properties but different contexts (i.e. bridges and buildings). The methods were evaluated using ISPRS benchmark datasets and show superior results in comparison to the current state-of-the-art.     

动态空间正图像透视投影正反解

卫星图像都是在动态情形下获取的。瞬间曝光获取的图像投影性质符合透视投影。本文针对卫星动态获取的正图像,建立其平面透视投影,利用矢量解法研究其正反解变换和星下点坐标计算方法,最后给出了算例。     

Automatic representation and reconstruction of DBM from LiDAR data using Recursive Minimum Bounding Rectangle

Three-dimensional building models are important for various applications, such as disaster management and urban planning. The development of laser scanning sensor technologies has resulted in many different approaches for efficient building model generation using LiDAR data. Despite this effort, generation of these models lacks economical and reliable techniques that fully exploit the advantage of LiDAR data. Therefore, this research aims to develop a framework for fully-automated building model generation by integrating data-driven and model-driven methods using LiDAR datasets.The building model generation starts by employing LiDAR data for building detection and approximate boundary determination. The generated building boundaries are then integrated into a model-based processing strategy because LiDAR derived planes show irregular boundaries due to the nature of LiDAR point acquisition. The focus of the research is generating models for the buildings with right-angled-corners, which can be described with a collection of rectangles under the assumption that the majority of the buildings in urban areas belong to this category. Therefore, by applying the Minimum Bounding Rectangle (MBR) algorithm recursively, the LiDAR boundaries are decomposed into sets of rectangles for further processing. At the same time, the quality of the MBRs is examined to verify that the buildings, from which the boundaries are generated, are buildings with right-angled-corners. The parameters that define the model primitives are adjusted through a model-based boundary fitting procedure using LiDAR boundaries. The level of details in the final Digital Building Model is based on the number of recursions during the MBR processing, which in turn are determined by the LiDAR point density. The model-based boundary fitting improves the quality of the generated boundaries and as seen in experimental results, the quality depends on the average LiDAR point spacing. This research thus develops an approach which not only automates the building model generation, but also achieves the best accuracy of the model while utilizing only LiDAR data.