Enrichment and multi-purpose visualization of building models with emphasis on thermal infrared data

• Applicants: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Liqiu Meng; Professor Dr.-Ing. Uwe Stilla
• Subject Area: Geophysics
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 62030942

The proposal addresses the aspects of enrichment and visualization of 3D building models. It serves four principal goals: (1) to integrate geo-referenced information with 3D building geometries, (2) to extract and interpret non-visible features from thermal infrared data based on image analysis coupled with context information from 3D building models, (3) to enrich as well as update the 3D building models with the information derived from non-visible features, and (4) to visualize semantic attributes describing various surface elements of enriched 3D building models with emphasis on time-dependent thermal information. The involved tasks will be jointly accomplished by the Department of Cartography and the Department of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. The conducted work during the first funding period was concentrated on the acquisition, analysis and integration of thermal data with existing 3D models. On the one hand, surface textures were generated from infrared images and image sequences. On the other hand, the necessary database infrastructure was prepared for 3D scene simulation and GI data integration. The work for the second funding period will be concentrated on GI data integration, synchronization of illumination model with image recording times, extraction of features from surface textures, visualization and interactive queries. The novelties of this proposal are reflected in three aspects: (1) It develops an iterative strategy to enrich 3D building models with thermal information by combined processing of up-to-date sensor data from visible and non-visible domain and reusing the existing geoinformation. (2) 3D data modeling standards are adapted to allow the integration of thermal information with 3D building geometries. (3) It develops visualization techniques that go beyond the image draping or photorealistic rendering of building appearance. Query techniques are designed to make the enriched 3D building models at different granularity levels accessible for the user.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants