Hybrid sensor solutions, that feature active laser and passive image sensors on the same platform, are rapidly entering the airborne market of topographic and urban mapping, offering new opportunities for an improved quality of geo-spatial products. We investigate the proper integration of the concurrent acquisition of LiDAR data and oblique imagery, which has the potential to lead the airborne (urban) mapping sector a step forward. We consider different datasets acquired with the Leica CityMapper hybrid sensor investigating potential and challenges, w.r.t. (i) number and distribution of tie points between nadir and oblique images, (ii) strategy for image aerial triangulation (AT) and accuracy achievable w.r.t ground truth data, (iii) local noise level and completeness of dense image matching (DIM) point clouds w.r.t LiDAR data. Solutions for an integrated processing of the concurrently acquired ranging and imaging data are considered, leading also to a hybrid bundle adjustment to proper geo-reference LiDAR and imagery data.

Partners: Hexagon Leica Geospatial, nFrames

Funding: internal and private