Uav Photogrammetry with Oblique Images: First Analysis on Data Acquisition and Processing
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLI-B1, 2016 XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY WITH OBLIQUE IMAGES: FIRST ANALYSIS ON DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING I. Aicardi a, F. Chiabrando b, N. Grasso a*, A. M. Lingua a, F. Noardo a, A. Spanò b a Politecnico di Torino, DIATI - Department of Environmental, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy, (irene.aicardi,nives.grasso,andrea.lingua,francesca.noardo)@polito.it b Politecnico di Torino, DAD - Department of Architecture and Design, C.so Massimo D'Azeglio, 42 - 10125 Torino, Italy, (filiberto.chiabrando,antonia.spano)@polito.it Commission I, WG I/Vb KEY WORDS: UAV, Oblique Imagery, photogrammetry, SfM, point clouds, cultural heritage, architectural 3D models ABSTRACT: In recent years, many studies revealed the advantages of using airborne oblique images for obtaining improved 3D city models (e.g. including façades and building footprints). Expensive airborne cameras, installed on traditional aerial platforms, usually acquired the data. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of acquire and use oblique images for the 3D reconstruction of a historical building, obtained by UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and traditional COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) digital cameras (more compact and lighter than generally used devices), for the realization of high-level-of-detail architectural survey. The critical issues of the acquisitions from a common UAV (flight planning strategies, ground control points, check points distribution and measurement, etc.) are described. Another important considered aspect was the evaluation of the possibility to use such systems as low cost methods for obtaining complete information from an aerial point of view in case of emergency problems or, as in the present paper, in the cultural heritage application field. The data processing was realized using SfM-based approach for point cloud generation: different dense image-matching algorithms implemented in some commercial and open source software were tested. The achieved results are analysed and the discrepancies from some reference LiDAR data are computed for a final evaluation. The system was tested on the S. Maria Chapel, a part of the Novalesa Abbey (Italy). 1. INTRODUCTION cartographic mapping and urban-scale analysis. Others use the data acquired from oblique images for building 3D models The arisen interest of the scientific community and software using a parametric approach (Feifei et al., 2012; Püschel et al., developers in using airborne oblique images to build 3D models 2008). These are though not sufficient for specific architectural made the advantages of the technique evident (Höhle, 2008; heritage applications, which require higher levels of detail. Gerke, 2009). This research aims at testing a methodology for acquiring The method was experimented starting from the years 2008- images useful for 3D reconstruction of a single historical 2009, however, the more recent integration of computer vision building from UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Surveys from algorithms (Szelinski, 2010) in common software tools, UAVs can follow many methodologies, proposed in last years. critically increase the method potentialities. They are well-affirmed for traditional nadir images acquisitions In 3D city modelling, dense image matching of oblique images in a number of application fields and sites. These permit to permits to include the façade description and the building obtain highly detailed DSMs of the surveyed objects. However, footprints in the models. This enriches the representation from the façades, and vertical elements and surfaces were usually not simple DSMs (Digital Surface Models) from one single point of modelled. view (generally nadir) to more complex 3D models, which can Some previous researches experimented the 3D model be useful for improved analysis with different aims (energetic reconstruction of a unique historical building for documentation policies, urban planning, city management, etc.). aims from UAV (Fiorillo et al., 2013; Irshara et al., 2010). In The technique permits to collect a very complex and complete the present contribution, however, a higher number of images information in short time, which is a great advantage for are used and a closer acquisition is performed, in order to reach mapping and documentation purposes. the maximum possible detail and to evaluate the behaviour of Furthermore, the method is absolutely non-invasive, since it can different software tools in processing close range oblique collect data completely from remote areas and without touching images acquired from UAV. the site at all. It also permits to reach little accessible parts of The flight was realised at close distance (mean flight height of the buildings (such as the higher parts, which are difficult to be about 20 m) for acquiring images about a chapel, which is part recorded by means of other techniques, e.g. Terrestrial Laser of the Novalesa abbey complex. The safety conditions (isolated Scanner, TLS). building rounded from fields) permitted to perform such a flight However, performed benchmarks (Nex et al., 2015) and many and experiment the complete methodology (Figure 1). researches (Frueh, 2004) used images acquired from high flight A method was tested for acquiring a high number of data from a altitudes that permit to reach accuracies suitable for usual UAV in a unique very close circular flight, plus some nadir * Corresponding author This contribution has been peer-reviewed. doi:10.5194/isprsarchives-XLI-B1-835-2016 835 The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLI-B1, 2016 XXIII ISPRS Congress, 12–19 July 2016, Prague, Czech Republic images to further tie and strengthen the block. The images GSD monastery. Built in the VIII century, with restoration of the XI (Ground Sample Distance) is about 0.5 cm; being the object century, it was symbolizing the entrance to the monastery and quite compact, there are not meaningful differences between the was the place where visitors would stop for a first moment of nearest part of the object and the most distant part, from the prayer. The church is composed by a unique rectangular nave camera. with a quadrangular apse on the east. The nave of the chapel is characterized by a double pitch roof, while the apse is constituted by a barrel vault surmounted by a roof. (a) Figure 1 The complex of Novalesa Abbey (in the foreground, the S. Maria chapel) Superabundant data in a short time were acquired since the aim was to optimize a workflow also usable, for instance, for emergency situation, or simply for economic considerations (often critical in cultural heritage management). Also, for considering limited accessibility which can characterise some cultural heritage sites, and the frequent limited budgets of (b) cultural heritage operators, the employed instruments were as compact as possible and low cost devices were preferred. The Figure 2.(a) Two detailed view of the S. Maria’s Chapel; in (b) used camera is the same usually employed for nadir it is visible how a part of the object is hidden by trees, which acquisitions, but it was positioned with oblique axis; expensive can be a problem for the use of the oblique images to build a specific multiple cameras used in many researches (Feifei et al., part of the complete 3D model 2012) were therefore not necessary. In the processing also low cost or open source tools were tested. 2. THE ACQUISITION METHODOLOGY Only the data from UAV images were considered, without any integration to the model with other sort of data (e.g. TLS points The photogrammetric acquisition from UAV are nowadays well or terrestrial photogrammetry results). established, since during the years different tests have been Dense image matching techniques were then used to build a performed trying to understand the best practices and accuracy dense 3D point cloud, to be used as a support for historical (Eisenbeiß, 2009). investigations, stratigraphic units identification (Donadio & In the case of oblique images, the choose of the best flight Spanò, 2015), deterioration mapping, static analysis (Bertolini planning approach in order to cover the whole object with the et al., 2015) and any other activity which could be supported by minimum time of flight still remain the main problem. a dense and high-level-of-detail 3D model (Chiabrando et al., In relation to the specific case study, different approaches can 2016; Castellazzi et al., 2015). be evaluated since the use of oblique images can allow the As it is mentioned before, the acquired images were processed observation of vertical structures, but the occlusion related to using some of the different software tools implementing the contest must be taken into account. photogrammetry and computer vision algorithms, in order to For this reason, different configurations of the used camera evaluate their behaviour in the processing and results. The were evaluated by the scientific community during the years resulting dense point clouds have been finally compared using (Petrie, 2009): as reference the TLS point cloud. - the Maltese Cross configuration: that uses one nadir camera and 4 oblique (45°) sensors pointing the 1.1 The case study cardinal directions; - Fan configuration: it increases the swath width along The object site of this study is the S. Maria’s Chapel (Figure 2), the track to cover more area. which is part of the Novalesa Abbey, a Benedectine monastery in Val Susa (Piedmont - Italy) along the major pilgrimage road, Right now, the most common acquisition strategy for the the ‘Via Francigena’. The abbey, which was founded in the year oblique data is related to the Pictometry System that follows the 726 AD by Cistercian monks, is still operative as an active Maltese Cross configuration using a cluster of five cameras Benedectine monastery and it is one of the most important pointing the cardinal direction and a vertical one. historical and artistic witnesses of the Western Alps.