3D building reconstruction from high-resolution Ikonos stereo-imagery

An investigation of the application of 1 mIkonos satellite imagery to 3D building reconstruction is reported. The focus of the evaluation has been upon geopositioning accuracy, radiometric quality and attributes of the imagery that support building feature extraction. Following an initial review of characteristics of the Ikonos system, the multi-image dataset employed is described, along with the Melbourne Ikonos testfield. Radiometric and image preprocessing aspects are discussed and the results of 2D and 3D metric accuracy tests are presented. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the use of stereo-Ikonos imagery for generating building models is then provided, using the campus of the University of Melbourne as an evaluation site. The results of this assessment are summarised, these highlighting both the sub-metre metric accuracy potential of Ikonos imagery and difficulties to be anticipated in building reconstruction when a comprehensive and detailed modelling is required.