Method and apparatus for processing and aligning data point clouds

1. A method for accurate aligning of one or more portions of two or more data point clouds comprising:

receiving at a data collection server geo-location data sent over a communication network from at least one vehicle, the data collection server comprising a processor and a memory that stores the geo-location data as at least one first geo-registered point cloud and at least one second geo-registered point cloud, wherein the processor:

determines trace information for the at least one vehicle capturing the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

determines a ground surface threshold by measuring minimum elevation of LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data points underneath the trace information;

segments the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud based on an application of the ground surface threshold to one or more respective points in the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

processes the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold to determine a horizontal offset for horizontally aligning the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

processes the one or more respective points that are below the ground surface threshold to determine a vertical offset for a vertical alignment of the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

processes the vertical offset to determine a mean value based on one or more height differences between one or more minimum heights along the ground surface in the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the ground surface in the at least one second geo-registered point cloud; and

vertically aligns the horizontally aligned the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud based on the mean value,

wherein the horizontal alignment, the vertical alignment, or a combination thereof is/are based on one or more iteration thresholds determined by a user, by an algorithm, or a combination thereof.

2. A method of claim 1 , wherein the processor further:

projects the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold for the at least one first geo-registered point cloud into at least one first horizontal image;

projects the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold for the at least one second geo-registered point cloud into at least one second horizontal image; and

determines the horizontal offset based on an alignment along two directional axes of the at least one first horizontal image and the at least one second horizontal image,

wherein the two directional axes include a latitudinal axis and a longitudinal axis.

3. A method of claim 2 , wherein the processor further:

determines the alignment of the at least one first horizontal image and the at least one second horizontal image based on determining a number of one or more overlapping pixels between the at least one first horizontal image and the at least one second horizontal image.

4. A method of claim 3 , wherein the processor further:

determines the horizontal offset based on a distance represented by the one or more overlapping pixels.

5. A method of claim 2 , wherein the horizontal alignment is based on a maximum displacement in the latitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis, or a combination thereof.

6. A method of claim 1 , wherein the processor further:

determines an anticipated error in location information associated with respective points of the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud based on respective location information of the at least one vehicle when capturing the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud.

7. A method of claim 1 , wherein the processor further:

determines an accuracy rate for the horizontal alignment, the vertical alignment, or a combination thereof; and

adjusts to the one or more iteration thresholds based on the accuracy rate.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions stored thereon executed by a processor to perform a method for accurate aligning of one or more portions of one or more data point clouds, the method comprising: receiving geo-location data sent over a communication network from at least one vehicle;

storing the received geo-location data as at least one first geo-registered point cloud and at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

determining trace information for at least one vehicle capturing at least one first geo-registered point cloud and at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

determining a ground surface threshold by measuring minimum elevation of LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data points underneath the trace information;

segmenting the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud based on an application of the ground surface threshold to one or more respective points in the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

processing the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold to determine a horizontal offset for horizontally aligning the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud; and

processing the one or more respective points that are below the ground surface threshold to determine a vertical offset for a vertical alignment of the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud;

processing the vertical offset to determine a mean value based on one or more height differences between one or more minimum heights along the ground surface in the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the ground surface in the at least one second geo-registered point cloud; and

vertically aligning the horizontally aligned the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud based on the mean value,

wherein the horizontal alignment, the vertical alignment, or a combination thereof is/are based on one or more iteration thresholds determined by a user, by an algorithm, or a combination thereof.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

projecting the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold for the at least one first geo-registered point cloud into at least one first horizontal image;

projecting the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold for the at least one second geo-registered point cloud into at least one second horizontal image; and

determining the horizontal offset based on an alignment along two directional axes of the at least one first horizontal image and the at least one second horizontal image,

wherein the two directional axes include a latitudinal axis and a longitudinal axis.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining the alignment of the at least one first horizontal image and the at least one second horizontal image based on determining a number of one or more overlapping pixels between the at least one first horizontal image and the at least one second horizontal image.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining the horizontal offset based on a distance represented by the one or more overlapping pixels.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the horizontal alignment is based on a maximum displacement in the latitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis, or a combination thereof.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining an anticipated error in location information associated with respective points of the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud based on respective location information of the at least one vehicle when capturing the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining an accuracy rate for the horizontal alignment, the vertical alignment, or a combination thereof; and

adjusting the one or more iteration thresholds based on the accuracy rate.