Populating a building Multi Representation Data Base with photogrammetric tools: Recent progress

More and more frequently, the populating of 3D MRDB’s (Multi Representations Data Base) is required to support advanced cartographic applications and advanced geospatial decision analysis. We previously proposed a manual photogrammetric process based on the Multi Representation Acquisition Pattern (MRAP) concept to tackle simultaneously Fine Level Geometries (FLG) extraction and Coarse Level Geometries (CLG) extraction. This paper presents our progress, from an automation standpoint, regarding our approach to populate MRDBs containing building geometries through a photogrammetric multiple representations acquisition process. Two new algorithms dedicated to Multi Representation (MR) acquisition are introduced and constitute two contributions. These combine passive imagery and Digital Surface Model analysis in order to address automation issues. The first algorithm allows for the automatic determination of the MRAP parameters from a single click initialization. The second algorithm aims at supporting part of the MR acquisition when MRAP are not relevant and allows the automatic building footprints extraction. This paper describes the project motivation and its actual progress. It is divided into four parts. The first part concerns the MR data acquisition specifications. A description of the manual prototype is provided and the MRAP concept is described. In the second part, the first algorithm allowing the automatic determination of the MRAP parameters is introduced. The third part is dedicated to the review of the automation performances through the study of three test sites. Finally, our second algorithm, allowing the automatic building footprints extraction is introduced with preliminary results.