The integration of aerial and close-range photogrammetry for levels of details representation in city modeling

Abstract

Aerial photogrammetry data is commonly used to develop three-dimensional (3D) city model. There are some problems in constructing 3D city model by using aerial photogrammetry including the difficulties in recognition of small buildings and levels of details of building geometry is limited. Besides that, newly constructed buildings are not recorded in the aerial image. In order to improve aerial photogrammetry data for 3D city model development, this research was conducted by integrating aerial photogrammetry data with close-range photogrammetry data. This study also verifies the levels of details of buildings achieved by close-range photogrammetry. The base model and building model are the main components of 3D city model. The base model was developed from aerial photogrammetry data and consists of Digital Terrain Model. The building models were generated from aerial and close-range photogrammetry data. Aerial photogrammetry was used to generate the whole buildings in the study area, while close-range photogrammetry was used to develop the small building that is difficult to recognize and new building that is not recorded in aerial image. The buildings from aerial and close-range photogrammetry were integrated with the base model to form 3D city model. At the end of this study, the 3D city model was presented in 3D visualization. The building models from close-range photogrammetry were evaluated in terms of levels of details, geometry and accuracy. In conclusion, the building models from close-range photogrammetry have achieved levels of details of level three where building geometry consists of architectural elements such as windows and doors. The accuracy of the building models from close-range photogrammetry is less than one centimeter when compared with measurement from total station Leica TCR 307. Furthermore, the integration of aerial and close-range photogrammetry have contributed in terms of updating the building models in 3D city model data.