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Generation of 3D virtual geographic environment based on laser scanning

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Article  in  Geo-spatial Information Science · September 2003

DOI: 10.1007/BF02826891

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Part II Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications for Sustainable Development

Experiments on Generation of 3D Virtual Geographic Environment

Based on Laser Scanning Technique
Jie Du1, Fumio Yamazaki2

Xiaoyong Chen3 Apisit Eiumnoh4 , Michiro Kusanagi3, R.P. Shrestha4

1
School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
2
School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Japan
3
School of Advanced Technologies, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
4
School of School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

Tel: +66-2-524-5905, Fax +66-2+524-6059/5905

miyakojie@yahoo.com

Abstract ground and enable conducting more accurate and

Airborne laser scanner is an integrated system of
GPS, INS and laser scanner. It has become an accurate,
fast, and versatile measurement technique that can
complement or partly replace other existing acquisition
technologies and has been used in more diverse
applications that concern large-scale and precise
topographic Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and
Digital Surface Models (DSMs). Up to now,
development of algorithm and methods for acquiring 3D
spatial data, interpretation and modeling of this kind data
for property application are main research topics. This
paper demonstrates an experiment on generation of 3D
virtual geographic environment by using experimental
flight laser scanning data, based on a set of algorithms
and methods that were developed for automatically
interpret range images for extracting geo-spatial features
to reconstruct geo-objects. The set of algorithms and
methods for interpretation and modeling of laser scanner
data include the followings: Triangulated Irregular
Network (TIN) based range image interpolation;
Mathematical Morphology (MM) based range image
filtering, feature extraction and range image
segmentation, feature generalization and optimization;
3D objects reconstruction and modeling; Computer
Graphics (CG) based visualization and animation of
geographic virtual reality environment. The results of the
experiment of this research demonstrate the operational
utilization of the suggested approach and its applicability
to various fields of study, such as urban disaster
management.
Keywords: Laser scanning data, Virtual Geographic
Environment (VGE), urban disaster.
1. Introduction
Recently, the need to describe larger scale 3D spatial
data has been continuously increasing. The reason is
that, compared with two-dimensional data, three-
dimensional data can describe details of objects on the
detailed simulation or analysis on proper areas.
Airborne laser scanning represents a new and
independent technology to obtain highly automated
generation of digital terrain models (DTMs) and digital
surface models (DSMs). Nowadays, most technical
hardware difficulties and system integration problems
have already been solved. The remaining problem is the
development of algorithms for interpretation and
modeling of laser scanner data (Axelsson, 1999). By
integrating laser scanner data with other existing 2D/3D
data, reliability of high-resolution three-dimensional
data generated will be more reliable. This study
describes the system configuration and methodology of
acquisition, processing and modeling 3D spatial data for
generation of 3D virtual geographic environment, based
on experimental flight laser-scanning data.
This research proposes a new approach to develop a
set of algorithms and methods for processing, modeling
the 3D spatial data based on the laser range data in order
to generate 3D virtual environment. This new approach
for processing and modeling the 3D spatial data is a
mathematic morphology (MM) based multi-resolution
method. Due to the data availability, Kyoto Station area
of Kyoto city in Japan, was chosen as the study area
2. Statement of the problem and
methdology of reserach
Today, the laser scanning system is offered by a very
limited number of companies. Similarly, most technical
hardware difficulties and system integration problems
have already been solved. However, airborne laser
scanner data have not been applied widely because the
processing of this kind of data is still under research.
Since the processing of airborne laser scanner data alone
cannot provide a good result, it needs to be integrated
with other existing 2D data sources. At this moment,

102 Du, J. and Yamazaki, F.

Part II Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications for Sustainable Development

problems of various kinds are under research in order to Table 1 Specification of ALS employed in this study
improve accuracy of the result and reduce total working Provided by Asian Air Survey Co., Ltd
time. Up to now, development of algorithm and
methods for acquiring 3D data, interpretation and Specification of ALS employed in this study
modeling of laser data for property application are main Flying height 200–400 m above ground
research topics. This research aims to develop the Platform Helicopter
algorithms and methods to automatically/semi- Resolution 50 cm on the ground
automatically interpret range images of extracted geo- Pulse Rate (Hz) 20 kHz
spatial features and reconstruct geo-objects to generate Scan Rate (kHz) 25 Hz
3D virtual environment based on laser scanner data. Scan angle ±30 degrees
These algorithms mainly include:
Scan Swath Width 0.68Xh m
1. Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) based range
image interpolation and Pre-processing; Cross Track Spacing 1.93 m
2. Mathematical Morphology (MM) based range Along Track Spacing 2.83 m
image filtering, features extraction and range image X, Y Positional Accuracy 1/2000 X h
segmentation, feature generalization and optimization, Z Positional Accuracy 0.15 m RMSE absolute
3D objects reconstruction and modeling; Beam divergence (mrad) 1.5
3. Computer Graphic (CG) based visualization and
generation of virtual environment. 3.2 Proceduce
Laser range images can be kind of high-resolution 3.2.1 TIN based pre-processing
digital terrain models (DTMs) or digital surface models
(DSMs). Reconstruction of 3D objects from laser range
images can simply be considered as the 3D raster-vector As the first step, the raw data recorded by the laser
conversions from a noisy DTM to parametric CAD ranger need to be translated to a file format that
formatted 3D vector data. Due to the limited resolution SoftImage|3-D can read. Generally, there are two ways
and noise, the existing low-level processing methods for to translate the data. The first way is to generate a
reconstruction of 3D objects from laser range images SoftImage|3-D graphic file directly. The second way is
generally cannot be used for real application needs. City to translate a DXF file (generated by MicroStation or
and regional planning maps and 3D GIS data, a set of AUTO-CAD) into a SoftImage|3-D file. Both of these
well-organized high level data source interpreted and methods for inputting laser range data are useful for a
generalized by human operators, are useful knowledge different laser range hardware. Have tried these two
for 3D object reconstruction and recognition. methods for imputing laser range data and they are
useful for different laser range hardware (such as
airborne or ground-type machines). Another important
3. Case Study issue is the conversion of raw data from their local
coordinate systems to global ones. The processing can
be realized by making C program for 3-D coordinate
3.1 The study area transformation based on a set of provided parameters.
The ALS (Airborne laser scanner) data employed in this Figure 1 shows the result after the processing of TIN
research was acquired over Kyoto railway station area (Triangulated Irregular Network) based range data pre-
of Japan, provided by Asian Air Survey Co., Ltd. The processing and range interpolation.
basic specifications and data parameters are given in
Table 1.
Aerial photographs and city maps are used as
additional information in feature extraction and others
related processing. The city map of Kyoto Station area,
Kyoto city planning GIS database were used in this
research. This database was supplied by Kyoto City
Urban Planning Bureau.

Figure 1 result after the processing

Du, J. and Yamazaki, F. 103

Part II Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications for Sustainable Development
3.2.2 MM based processing
Mathematical Morphology (MM) based approaches
are used (Chen. and Ikeda, 1994) for the purposes of
range image filtering and related object segmentation
and semi-automated feature extraction. MM operators
(such as dilation, erosion, opening, closing, hit or miss,
thinning) can be described as a combination of shift and
logic operations. Shifting operations are controlled by
the given Structuring Elements (SEs) whose size, shape,
and orientation can be changed by different
applications. Different MM operators organize different
logic operations for different purposes.
Figure 2 procedure of MM based processing
MM filtering and 3D object segmentation are one of
the most successful tools used for MM applications. For
range image processing, the opening filter was used to
remove dirty voxels and small-connected volumes. The
closing filter was also used to fill small holes within
surfaces and to link short gaps among objects. Here, the
key problem is how to select suitable SEs. Generally,
before the real processing of whole large images
several, typical, small testing areas can be processed to
find the suitable parameters and optimal processing
procedures. Also, simple knowledge bases can be
generated based on these selected parameters and
procedures that can be used for other range image
processing.
The basic idea of MM based object segmentation is:
firstly, filtering all the parts smaller than the given SEs;
then, segmenting the objects by logic difference
operations between the original 3-D data set and the
filtered 3-D data set. Since MM based filtering with a
small SE in the first step of processing will damage the
detail object features, a feature-recovering step should
be added during the object segment procedure. When
using the 2D map data for range image processing, a
104 Du, J. and Yamazaki, F.
feature protected filtering based on the conditional
masking volumes generated by the 2-D boundary lines
of building or roads can also be realized. Figure 2 shows
a simple procedure of MM filtering and object
segmentation.
A sample result of the laser range image of Kyoto
railway station area by using MM based multi-
resolution processing algorithms and methods that were
utilized in this research are shown in Figure 4. Figure 3
shows the result by using other methods while figure 5
shows a laser range image without further processing.
The area marked by a circle in Figures 3, 4 and 5 is a
tall building (Kyoto Tower). The actual shape of the
building when viewed from its side is tapering. The base
has a wider width compared with a smaller width of the
top floor. After filtering and segmentation, the MM-
based method produced better in terms of noise
reduction. In Figures 4, the noise is filtered very
efficiently. Circle layers of the building were realized.
While the circle layers in Figure 5 is unclear. This
filtering utilizes the minimum-threshold method. Most
features were eliminated with this method. This means
that even if the elimination of the noise is effective,
other significant information of the object as well
should not be lost. In this case, the relative tapering of
the building as height increases was also eliminated.
The cross-section profile (Figure 6) of an object was
created to discuss the methods in detail at different
range images as an example to analysis the profile
graphs. This is for quantitatively analyzing the results of
the different methods. The solid line represents filtering
and segmentation process using the MM-based method,
dashed line represents the cross-sectional image after
minimum-threshold filtering and the dotted line
represents a raw laser range image without any feature
processing. The MM-based method clearly defines most
of the features of the object compared to the raw range
image and even after utilizing the minimum-threshold
method.
3.2.3 CG based processing
CG (Computer Graphic) based processing includes
3D visualization for generation of virtual geographic
environment. To generate a complex 3-D object with
surfaces, 2D image textures from air photos. By using
the SoftImage|3-D system, 3-D spatial objects based on
extracted spatial lines and surfaces can be generated.
Figure 7 shows the procedure of visual texture
mapping processing to generate 3D virtual geographic
environments.
Part II Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications for Sustainable Development

P ro file G r a p h
V e r tic a l e x a g g e r a tio n 1 . 5 X

60.10
48.34
Ele vation
Elevation
38.34
28.34
0 1 0 .0 0 2 0 .0 0 3 0 .0 0 4 0 .0 0 5 0 .0 0 6 4 .1 5
D is t a n c e
M M based m ethod
W ithout processing
O ther m ethod

Figure 6 Profile graphs of different range images

Figure 3 Result by using Minimum-threshold Filtering

method

Figure 4 Laser range image by using MM based multi-

resolution processing

Figure 7 Flow from texture mapping to result

4. Testing system
A system based on the algorithms and methods of the
research processing was developed. This system
consists of four main modules. The developed four main
modules include display, processing modeling and
texture. Figure 8 shows the interface of this system
(main window).

Figure 5 image of the range image without feature

processing

Du, J. and Yamazaki, F. 105

Part II Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications for Sustainable Development
(a)
(b)
Figure 8 Interface of the developed processing system
5. Conclusions
The study, experiments, and issues addressed in this
paper were integrated to the following conclusions:
1. Laser scanning is a suitable technique to collect
relief information to be used for 3D virtual
environment generation. A promising
development is the combination of an existing
database with the automatically extracted
features to facilitate the time-consuming task of
manual methods.
2. A special system based on C++ and SoftImage
3D had been developed due to the unavailability
of commercial software for this kind research.
This system was designed based on the
algorithm logic structure and other procedures.
Though it is only a prototype, it still met the
rigorous demand of the study, e.g. the system
developed in this research can handle the
enormous (laser random point) data. A special
commercial software was needed for this kind of
processing.
3. The developed algorithms, methods, and system
were successfully applied to study area. The
results of the study satisfied the research
106 Du, J. and Yamazaki, F.
objectives. The procedures formulated for
automatic interpretation and segmentation of
laser range data were successfully applied in this
study using MM based multi-resolution
processing methods. The study and its
applications have proven the feasibility and
success of the developed methods and, it is
concluded, the methods will be useful for
visualization of 3D objects and landscapes.
4. The point density acquired by airborne laser
scanner used in this research was unsatisfactory
for some case in some degree. For instance, in
the vegetation area, after interpolation of points
to grid, it is difficult to distinguish points
indicating the trees from those points referring to
the ground. In addition, the shape of top parts of
high objects (i.e. buildings) does not match the
sharpness of the objects very well.
5. The methods achieved in this study have
advantage in term of high automation and fast
delivery times comparing the one attained by
photogrammetric stereo compilation and other
methods.
6. From the processing result, the algorithm and
processing system in this research was
developed in an open way. There are remaining
several problems: The laser data used in this
research was only a one-time flight data. Due to
limited scanning direction and flying speed,
some areas were unreachable by the laser beam.
Random data of these areas are gapped, such as
foot parts of high objects, and the side of objects
surface that are opposite to the direction of laser
beam emitting. Therefore, some site have no 3D
data such as gap areas, break-points (lines
problem) etc.
6. Recommendations
Based on the research conducted, a number of
recommendations for future research have been
summarized.
1. As mention in the conclusion, the use of height
data for 3D building reconstruction has been
demonstrated. By the integration of ground
plans and GIS data, detailed reconstructions of
buildings can be obtained automatically even
for laser data measured at relatively low point
densities. Since the integration of laser data
proved very successful, the use of this
information is strongly recommended during
the automatic generation of density area
databases. E.g. building urban building
inventory environment after natural disaster
like flooding, earthquake, etc..
2. Automatic procedures for interpretation and
segmentation of laser range data can be
successful for the applications by using MM
 Part II Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications for Sustainable Development
based processing methods. For a more general
approach, other sources of information should
be used in order to raise the success rate of the
procedure. Such sources of information are
reflectance data or multiple echoes from the
ALS system, images, existing 2D GIS
databases, land use maps, etc. Therefore, laser
data are just random point data, these are more
suitable for mapping purposes and needs to be
merged very closely with the image
information. This can be achieved either by
using oriented images from photogrammetric
image blocks, supplied directly from the same
platform as the raw Laser data or from the laser
raw data itself in the form of a reflectance
image.
3. The study integrated existing maps, GIS data
and aerial photographs with processed laser
scanning data. Further research is therefore
recommended to concentrate on the design of
an improved procedure on attaining higher
accuracy and automation. These can be any of
the following points:
٠ Improving the accuracy of object
structures by using 3D data from multi-
sources (Mobile mapping, laser range
data from ground stations or multi-times
scanning data);
٠ Automated 3D feature extraction based
on knowledge bases and existing GIS;
٠ Improving the accuracy of texture
images.
٠ Generation of orthophotos for
accurately texture mapping
Other possible approaches of integrating multi-
sensor data and other various applications
4. Based on laser scanning techniques to
generation of 3D geographic environment have
been used in some developed countries in
urban systems for infrastructure design, urban
planning and management. This technique can
be an expecting/ effective way for acquisition
3D spatial data for simulating and monitoring
disaster situation for demonstration and
assessment of damage. It is with advantages
that are:
٠ Real-time mapping and simulation
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٠ Easy acquisition
٠ High accuracy
٠ High automation and fast delivery times
It can be become an effective tool for rapid and real
time acquisition of demanded data and construct the
database for disaster evaluation as well as producing 3D
view to show the damage spatial distribution visually.
Therefore, it can be applied to evaluate the urban risk of
the area in the developing country that urban
infrastructures data are still not sufficient, like most
GMS country.
Acknowledgement
The experiments and principle was based on the
doctoral dissertation research: Generation of 3D Virtual
Geographic Environment. Gratitude to whom that have
provided various valuable comments and guidance
throughout the study and research.
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