Parking lot analysis and visualization from aerial images

We propose an elevation-based approach to parking lot structure analysis from aerial imagery. In contrast to image-based methods, the new approach treats parked vehicles as 3-D microstructures and attempts to locate them in the elevation domain. The STME (Surface Texture and Microstructure Extraction) system is applied to the elevation map to extract the 3-D microstructures. A hybrid application of this system to both intensity and elevation maps results in a complete extraction of individual vehicles. Based on a comparison of texture exploitation techniques, a WCC (weighted combination criterion) algorithm is presented to generate a clean parking lot ground surface, which facilitates visualization and simulation of parking lot activities with a high degree of visual realism.