DIRECT ORTHOPHOTO GENERATION FROM COLOR POINT CLOUDS OF COMPLEX SCENES

Abstract. During the last decade, laser scanning and automated photogrammetric techniques, proved that it is possible to acquire dense colored point cloud datasets. The density of such datasets sometimes equals or exceeds the density of orthophotos. The standard orthophoto generation process using such dense and full 3D data sets, is tedious as it requires manual corrections over the 3D mesh model, as well as mosaicking and gap filling from adjacent photographs. This paper suggests a fast automated method to produce orthophotos directly from color point clouds, without the need to create a mesh surface, nor to mosaic or fill gaps. Photos from radio controlled helicopter are being processed with traditional photogrammetric process and modern computer vision techniques, against the proposed method. Reference data from land surveying are being used to compare orthophotos from different sources.