Abstract
Abstract. Photogrammetric computer vision systems have been well established in many scientific and commercial fields during the last decades. Recent developments in image-based 3D reconstruction systems in conjunction with the availability of affordable high quality digital consumer grade cameras have resulted in an easy way of creating visually appealing 3D models. However, many of these methods require manual steps in the processing chain and for many photogrammetric applications such as mapping, recurrent topographic surveys or architectural and archaeological 3D documentations, high accuracy in a geo-coordinate system is required which often cannot be guaranteed. Hence, in this paper we present and advocate a fully automated end-to-end workflow for precise and geoaccurate 3D reconstructions using fiducial markers. We integrate an automatic camera calibration and georeferencing method into our image-based reconstruction pipeline based on binary-coded fiducial markers as artificial, individually identifiable landmarks in the scene. Additionally, we facilitate the use of these markers in conjunction with known ground control points (GCP) in the bundle adjustment, and use an online feedback method that allows assessment of the final reconstruction quality in terms of image overlap, ground sampling distance (GSD) and completeness, and thus provides flexibility to adopt the image acquisition strategy already during image recording. An extensive set of experiments is presented which demonstrate the accuracy benefits to obtain a highly accurate and geographically aligned reconstruction with an absolute point position uncertainty of about 1.5 times the ground sampling distance.
Highlights
Photogrammetric methods and image-based measurement systems have been increasingly used in recent years in different areas of surveying to acquire spatial information
We have presented a system for fully automated generation of precise and georeferenced 3D reconstructions based on fiducial markers
We advocated the use of planar printed paper based fiducial markers as a target pattern to obtain accurate and reliable camera calibration
Summary
Photogrammetric methods and image-based measurement systems have been increasingly used in recent years in different areas of surveying to acquire spatial information. They have become more popular due to their inherent flexibility as compared to traditional surveying equipment such as total stations and laser scanners (Leberl et al, 2010). Traditional aerial photogrammetry demands resources and occasions high costs for manned, specialized aircrafts and is only economical for very large survey areas. Terrestrial photogrammetry is cheaper and more flexible, but is limited by the ground based camera positions. Scene coverage is limited as visibility problems may arise depending on the scene geometry in certain areas which are not visible in images taken from ground level. Photogrammetry with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has recently emerged as a promising platform which closes the gap and combines the advantages of aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry and serves as low-cost alternative to the classical manned surveying
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