Orientation of airborne laser scanning point clouds with multi-view, multi-scale image blocks

Area of Science:

• Geomatics
• Photogrammetry
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• Comprehensive 3D environmental modeling necessitates integrating terrestrial and airborne data.
• Laser scanning and photogrammetric methods are preferred data acquisition techniques.
• Accurate relative orientation is crucial for effective multi-source data integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and compare two methods for solving relative orientation problems between airborne laser point clouds and photogrammetric data.
• To evaluate the accuracy and challenges associated with each orientation method.

Main Methods:

• Method 1: Registration by minimizing distances between an airborne laser point cloud and a 3D model derived from photogrammetric and terrestrial laser scanning data.
• Method 2: An interactive orientation method using a multi-scale image block (aerial and terrestrial images) and a laser point cloud.

Main Results:

• The accuracy of relative orientation improved with an increased number of images in the multi-scale block.
• The interactive method struggled with accurately detecting rotations, leading to shifts in image positions.
• In cases with only shifts, the interactive method achieved relative orientation of aerial images and airborne laser scanning data within centimeters.

Conclusions:

• Accurate relative orientation is critical for successful 3D modeling using integrated data sources.
• The interactive orientation method shows potential for specific scenarios, particularly when orientation differences are primarily shifts.
• Further refinement of interactive methods may be needed to improve accuracy in detecting rotational differences.