Towards Rapid 3d Modelling of Urban Areas

Modelling and simulation applications for operations in urban areas often set high resolution and fidelity requirements for the 3D environment models. For applications supporting ongoing operations, e.g decision support, mission planning, etc., additional requirements such as time frame and accessibility to the area of interest must also be taken into account in the modelling task. One possible approach to handle all these requirements is to use methods that allow for automatic 3D modelling using recent data from reconnaissance and surveillance sensors. In future urban operations we can expect to see different types of UAVs and UGVs equipped with sensors like 3D laser radars, IRand visual cameras. The data from these sensors can be used for environment modelling. This paper will present new developments in data processing aimed for rapid 3D environment modelling and visualization for e.g. mission planning and mission rehearsal, mainly in urban environments. The methods include ground estimation, building reconstruction and tree identification. The long term objective is an automatic production chain from environment data collection to environment models ready for use in many different applications.