Multi-resolution 3D terrain modeling based on scale space hierarchical clustering algorithm

This paper presents an approach to create 3D terrain model of multi-resolution with the purpose of rapid switching between different levels of information granules. And this approach is aimed at applying to emergency disaster situation display system (EDSDS). According to the characteristics and requirements of EDSDS, the multi-resolution approach is proposed to solve the time-consuming problem caused by transferring 3D terrain models into virtual scene during switching different levels of information granules. Firstly, the hierarchical model (HM) is constructed through the scale space based hierarchical clustering algorithm (SSHC) on the basis of remote sensing image. Secondly, accordance with the HM 3D terrain models are established following the OpenFlight data structure. Lastly, the 3D terrain models are optimized by levels of detail (LOD) techniques. Experimental results demonstrate that this proposed optimization algorithm accelerate the tempo of transferring 3D terrain models, especially the process from far and near. And this rapidity provides strong support to the emergency.