Line-of-sight measurement in large urban areas using voxelized lidar

Shea Hagstrom; David Messinger

doi:10.1117/12.918697

14 May 2012 Line-of-sight measurement in large urban areas using voxelized lidar

Shea Hagstrom, David Messinger

Proceedings Volume 8379, Laser Radar Technology and Applications XVII; 837907 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.918697
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2012, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

Recent advances in LIDAR technologies have increased the resolution of airborne instruments to the sub-meter level, which opens up the possibility of creating detailed maps over a large area. The ability to map complex 3D structure is especially challenging in urban environments, where both natural and manmade obstructions make comprehensive mapping difficult. LIDAR remains unsurpassed in its capability to capture fine geometric details in this type of environment, making it the ideal choice for many purposes. One important application of urban remote sensing is the creation of line-of-sight maps, or viewsheds, which determine the visibility of areas from a given point within a scene. Using a voxelized approach to LIDAR processing allows us to retain detail in overlapping structures, and we show how this provides a better framework for handling line-of-sight calculations than existing approaches. Including additional information about the instrument position during the data collection allows us to identify any scene areas which are poorly sampled, and to determine any detrimental effect on line-of-sight maps. An experiment conducted during the summer of 2011 collected both visible imagery and LIDAR at multiple returns per square meter of the downtown region of Rochester, NY. We demonstrate our voxelized technique on this large real-world dataset, and derive where errors in line-of-sight mapping are likely to occur.

Citation Download Citation

Shea Hagstrom and David Messinger "Line-of-sight measurement in large urban areas using voxelized lidar", Proc. SPIE 8379, Laser Radar Technology and Applications XVII, 837907 (14 May 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.918697

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