The first integration of street level imagery with aerial imagery will likely occur before the end of the year on Microsoft's Bing Maps site.
Alexander Wiechert from Vexcel Imaging - the Microsoft subsidiary in Graz, Austria, that produces Vexcel cameras - told the 2009 South East Asian Survey Congress (SEASC, 3-7 August) in Bali that the company is now producing data for urban areas using a fully automated processing system.
This system relies on massive redundancy in the digital imaging - such that each pixel on the ground is imaged from 15 different look angles. The images overlap each other by 90 per cent along the flight line and 60 per cent across it.
This makes it possible to automatically match the pixels, which in turn allows Vexcel to produce a digital terrain model and a classification that identifies roads and buildings.
From these, a 3D vector model can be derived. Metadata can be attached as required for use in GIS-type applications or as the front end to a search engine, which is what Microsoft is planning for Bing Maps.
The creation of a vector model also makes it possible to drape images from camera cars directly onto the model.
Microsoft has announced plans to map 3000 cities in the next 5 years using this system. This would cover the dwellings of 80 per cent of the Earth's population.
Source: www.asmmag.com
