Analysis of photogrammetrically-derived digital surface and terrain models for building recognition

Buildings are one of the most frequently occurring man-made objects and in urban scenes their detection and reconstruction, e.g., in the form of three-dimensional CAD (computer aided design) models, is very important to many users such as architects, town planners and telecommunications and environmental engineers. This thesis examines the role of digital terrain and surface models in supporting this reconstruction process. The thesis is structured into four main parts, namely, image matching to derive the data sets, building detection to delineate buildings from other man-made objects in DSM (digital surface model), DSM quality analysis to determine the reliability of the data, hydrological analysis to determine flood zones as an additional example of DTM application and finally conclusions and possible future outlook. Image matching was performed using an in-house image matching software in the Geomatics department. Off-the-shelf GIS functionality was used to tackle building detection, DSM quality analysis and hydrological analysis. A key feature of GIS functionality is the ability to exploit standard functions for the input/output, management, spatial analysis, editing and visualisation. It also aims at enhancing the accessibility of developed tools to end users.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Division of Geomatics

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• Mtshatsha, Bandile

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mason, Scott

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9466

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/9466