Scaling in a multi-dimensional building model
A system and method is provided for scaling and constructing a multi-dimensional (e.g., 3D) building model using ground-level imagery. Ground-level imagery is used to identify architectural elements that have known architectural standard dimensional ratios. Dimensional ratios of architectural elements in the multi-dimensional building model (unscaled) are compared with known architectural standard dimensional ratios to scale and construct an accurate multi-dimensional building model.
1. A method of scaling a multi-dimensional building model comprises:
retrieving a digital ground-level image for the multi-dimensional building model, wherein the digital ground-level image has been rectified and correlated to vertices of geometric planes or polygons that make up a portion of the multi-dimensional building model;
identifying an architectural element within the digital ground-level image;
defining perimeter boundaries for the architectural element;
calculating a dimensional ratio of distances between the perimeter boundaries for the architectural element;
comparing the calculated dimensional ratio against one or more known dimensional ratios, within a threshold of error, of at least one similar architectural element, wherein the comparing further includes comparing and averaging a plurality of calculated dimensional ratios for differing sizes of the at least one similar architectural element;
selecting one of the one or more known dimensional ratios closest to the calculated dimensional ratio;
determining an actual scale of the digital ground-level image based on error between the calculated dimensional ratio and the selected one of the one or more known dimensional ratios; and
scaling the multi-dimensional building model accordingly with the actual scale.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the perimeter boundaries are defined by any of: image pixels, vertices, edges or corner points.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scaling is performed while constructing the multi-dimensional building model.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the perimeter boundaries are defined automatically or manually.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the architectural element include: door(s), brick(s), window(s) or other architectural elements with architectural standard dimensional ratios.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the retrieved digital ground-level image includes two or more architectural elements.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the comparing further includes comparing against a plurality of dimensional ratios for the two or more architectural elements.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the comparing further includes using a weighted decision to select a least error comparison evaluation for the two or more architectural elements.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dimensional ratios include any of: width-to-height, or height-to-width or area (width×height).
10. A method of scaling a multi-dimensional building model comprising:
retrieving a digital ground-level image for the multi-dimensional building model, wherein the digital ground-level image has been rectified and correlated to vertices of geometric planes or polygons that make up a portion of the multi-dimensional building model;
identifying a plurality of known architectural elements within the digital ground-level image;
identifying perimeter boundaries for the plurality of known architectural elements identified within the digital ground-level image;
calculating dimensional ratios within the identified perimeter boundaries of each of the plurality of known architectural elements;
comparing each of the dimensional ratios against one or more known dimensional ratios, within a threshold of error, of at least one known similar architectural element, wherein the comparing further includes comparing and averaging a plurality of computed dimensional ratios for differing sizes of the at least one known similar architectural element;
weighting the comparisons based on similarity of calculated dimensional ratios to their respective known architectural element dimensional ratios;
selecting a dimensional ratio from the respective known architectural element dimensional ratios, wherein the selected dimensional ratio is closest to one of the calculated dimensional ratios;
determining a scale of the digital ground-level image based on relative error of the selected dimensional ratio; and
scaling the multi-dimensional building model with the determined scale.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the scaling is performed while constructing the multi-dimensional building model.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one known architectural element includes: door(s), brick(s), or window(s).
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the retrieved ground-level image includes two or more known architectural elements.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the known architectural elements are any of: similar or different.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the dimensional ratios include any of: width-to-height, or height-to-width or area (width×height).
16. A computer-based system for scaling a multi-dimensional building model comprising:
a computer processor with computing instructions to:
retrieve a digital ground-level image for the multi-dimensional building model, wherein the digital ground-level image has been rectified and correlated to vertices of geometric planes or polygons that make up a portion of the multi-dimensional building model;
identify a plurality of different known architectural elements within the digital ground-level image;
identify perimeter boundaries for the plurality of different known architectural elements identified within the digital ground-level image;
calculate dimensional ratios within the identified perimeter boundaries of each of the plurality of different known architectural elements;
compare each of the dimensional ratios against one or more known dimensional ratios of at least one known similar architectural element;
weight the comparisons based on similarity of calculated dimensional ratios to their respective known architectural element dimensional ratios;
select a dimensional ratio from the respective known architectural element dimensional ratios, wherein the selected dimensional ratio is closest to one of the calculated dimensional ratios;
determine a scale of the digital ground-level image based on relative error of the selected dimensional ratio; and
scale the multi-dimensional building model with the determined scale.