Clément Mallet

Creating Large-Scale City Models from 3D-Point Clouds: A Robust Approach with Hybrid Representation

We present a novel and robust method for modeling cities from 3D-point data. Our algorithm provides a more complete description than existing approaches by reconstructing simultaneously buildings, trees and topologically complex grounds. A major contribution of our work is the original way of modeling buildings which guarantees a high generalization level while having semantized and compact representations. Geometric 3D-primitives such as planes, cylinders, spheres or cones describe regular roof sections, and are combined with mesh-patches that represent irregular roof components. The various urban components interact through a non-convex energy minimization problem in which they are propagated under arrangement constraints over a planimetric map. Our approach is experimentally validated on complex buildings and large urban scenes of millions of points, and is compared to state-of-the-art methods.

A Marked Point Process for Modeling Lidar Waveforms

Lidar waveforms are 1-D signals representing a train of echoes caused by reflections at different targets. Modeling these echoes with the appropriate parametric function is useful to retrieve information about the physical characteristics of the targets. This paper presents a new probabilistic model based upon a marked point process which reconstructs the echoes from recorded discrete waveforms as a sequence ofparametric curves. Such an approach allows to fit each mode of a waveform with the most suitable function and to deal with both, symmetric and asymmetric, echoes. The model takes into account a data term, which measures the coherence between the models and the waveforms, and a regularization term, which introduces prior knowledge on the reconstructed signal. The exploration of the associated configuration space is performed by a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) sampler coupled with simulated annealing. Experiments with different kinds of lidar signals, especially from urban scenes, show the high potential of the proposed approach. To further demonstrate the advantages of the suggested method, actual laser scans are classified and the results are reported.

Building large urban environments from unstructured point data

We present a robust method for modeling cities from unstructured point data. Our algorithm provides a more complete description than existing approaches by reconstructing simultaneously buildings, trees and topologically complex grounds. Buildings are modeled by an original approach which guarantees a high generalization level while having semantized and compact representations. Geometric 3D-primitives such as planes, cylinders, spheres or cones describe regular roof sections, and are combined with mesh-patches that represent irregular roof components. The various urban components interact through a non-convex energy minimization problem in which they are propagated under arrangement constraints over a planimetric map. We experimentally validate the approach on complex urban structures and large urban scenes of millions of points.

Distinctive 2D and 3D features for automated large-scale scene analysis in urban areas

We propose a new methodology for large-scale urban 3D scene analysis in terms of automatically assigning 3D points the respective semantic labels. The methodology focuses on simplicity and reproducibility of the involved components as well as performance in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency. Exploiting a variety of low-level 2D and 3D geometric features, we further improve their distinctiveness by involving individual neighborhoods of optimal size. Due to the use of individual neighborhoods, the methodology is not tailored to a specific dataset, but in principle designed to process point clouds with a few millions of 3D points. Consequently, an extension has to be introduced for analyzing huge 3D point clouds with possibly billions of points for a whole city. For this purpose, we propose an extension which is based on an appropriate partitioning of the scene and thus allows a successive processing in a reasonable time without affecting the quality of the classification results. We demonstrate the performance of our methodology on two labeled benchmark datasets with respect to robustness, efficiency, and scalability. Graphical abstractWe propose a new methodology for large-scale urban 3D scene analysis which is based on distinctive 2D and 3D features derived from optimal neighborhoods.Display Omitted HighlightsWe present a new methodology for large-scale urban 3D point cloud classification.We analyze a strategy for recovering individual 3D neighborhoods of optimal size.Our methodology involves efficient feature extraction and classification.Our methodology contains an extension towards data-intensive processing.We evaluate our methodology on two recent, publicly available point cloud datasets.

Conditional random fields for urban scene classification with full waveform LiDAR data

We propose a context-based classification method for point clouds acquired by full waveform airborne laser scanners. As these devices provide a higher point density and additional information like echo width or type of return, an accurate distinction of several object classes is possible. However, especially in dense urban areas correct labelling is a challenging task. Therefore, we incorporate context knowledge by using Conditional Random Fields. Typical object structures are learned in a training step and improve the results of the point-based classification process. We validate our approach with two real-world datasets and by a comparison to Support Vector Machines and Markov Random Fields.

Terrain surfaces and 3-D landcover classification from small footprint full-waveform lidar data: application to badlands

This article presents the use of new remote sensing data acquired from airborne full-waveform lidar systems for hydrological applications. Indeed, the knowledge of an accurate topography and a landcover classification is a prior knowledge for any hydrological and erosion model. Badlands tend to be the most significant areas of erosion in the world with the highest erosion rate values. Monitoring and predicting erosion within badland mountainous catchments is highly strategic due to the arising downstream consequences and the need for natural hazard mitigation engineering. Additionally, beyond the elevation information, fullwaveform lidar data are processed to extract the amplitude and the width of echoes. They are related to the target reflectance and geometry. We will investigate the relevancy of using lidar-derived Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) and the potentiality of the amplitude and the width information for 3-D landcover classification. Considering the novelty and the complexity of such data, they are presented in details as well as guidelines to process them. The morphological validation of DTMs is then performed via the computation of hydrological indexes and photo-interpretation. Finally, a 3D landcover classification is performed using a Support Vector Machine classifier. The use of an ortho-rectified optical image in the classification process as well as full-waveform lidar data for hydrological purposes is finally discussed. Correspondence to: F. Bretar (frederic.bretar@ign.fr)

International Benchmarking of the Individual Tree Detection Methods for Modeling 3-D Canopy Structure for Silviculture and Forest Ecology Using Airborne Laser Scanning

Canopy structure plays an essential role in biophysical activities in forest environments. However, quantitative descriptions of a 3-D canopy structure are extremely difficult because of the complexity and heterogeneity of forest systems. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) provides an opportunity to automatically measure a 3-D canopy structure in large areas. Compared with other point cloud technologies such as the image-based Structure from Motion, the power of ALS lies in its ability to penetrate canopies and depict subordinate trees. However, such capabilities have been poorly explored so far. In this paper, the potential of ALS-based approaches in depicting a 3-D canopy structure is explored in detail through an international benchmarking of five recently developed ALS-based individual tree detection (ITD) methods. For the first time, the results of the ITD methods are evaluated for each of four crown classes, i.e., dominant, codominant, intermediate, and suppressed trees, which provides insight toward understanding the current status of depicting a 3-D canopy structure using ITD methods, particularly with respect to their performances, potential, and challenges. This benchmarking study revealed that the canopy structure plays a considerable role in the detection accuracy of ITD methods, and its influence is even greater than that of the tree species as well as the species composition in a stand. The study also reveals the importance of utilizing the point cloud data for the detection of intermediate and suppressed trees. Different from what has been reported in previous studies, point density was found to be a highly influential factor in the performance of the methods that use point cloud data. Greater efforts should be invested in the point-based or hybrid ITD approaches to model the 3-D canopy structure and to further explore the potential of high-density and multiwavelengths ALS data.

Mapping and Characterization of Hydrological Dynamics in a Coastal Marsh Using High Temporal Resolution Sentinel-1A Images

In Europe, water levels in wetlands are widely controlled by environmental managers and farmers. However, the influence of these management practices on hydrodynamics and biodiversity remains poorly understood. This study assesses advantages of using radar data from the recently launched Sentinel-1A satellite to monitor hydrological dynamics of the Poitevin marshland in western France. We analyze a time series of 14 radar images acquired in VV and HV polarizations from December 2014 to May 2015 with a 12-day time step. Both polarizations are used with a hysteresis thresholding algorithm which uses both spatial and temporal information to distinguish open water, flooded vegetation and non-flooded grassland. Classification results are compared to in situ piezometric measurements combined with a Digital Terrain Model derived from LiDAR data. Results reveal that open water is successfully detected, whereas flooded grasslands with emergent vegetation and fine-grained patterns are detected with moderate accuracy. Five hydrological regimes are derived from the flood duration and mapped. Analysis of time steps in the time series shows that decreased temporal repetitivity induces significant differences in estimates of flood duration. These results illustrate the great potential to monitor variations in seasonal floods with the high temporal frequency of Sentinel-1A acquisitions.

Airborne Lidar Estimation of Aboveground Forest Biomass in the Absence of Field Inventory

The scientific community involved in the UN-REDD program is still reporting large uncertainties about the amount and spatial variability of CO2 stored in forests. The main limitation has been the lack of field samplings over space and time needed to calibrate and convert remote sensing measurements into aboveground biomass (AGB). As an alternative to costly field inventories, we examine the reliability of state-of-the-art lidar methods to provide direct retrieval of many forest metrics that are commonly collected through field sampling techniques (e.g., tree density, individual tree height, crown cover). AGB is estimated using existing allometric equations that are fed by lidar-derived metrics at either the individual tree- or forest layer-level (for the overstory or underneath layers, respectively). Results over 40 plots of a multilayered forest located in northwest Portugal show that the lidar method provides AGB estimates with a relatively small random error (RMSE = of 17.1%) and bias (of 4.6%). It provides local AGB baselines that meet the requirements in terms of accuracy to calibrate satellite remote sensing measurements (e.g., the upcoming lidar GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation), and the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) missions NISAR (National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Indian Space Research Organization SAR) and BIOMASS from the European Space Agency, ESA) for AGB mapping purposes. The development of similar techniques over a variety of forest types would be a significant improvement in quantifying CO2 stocks and changes to comply with the UN-REDD policies.

Contribution of airborne full-waveform lidar and image data for urban scene classification

Airborne lidar systems have become an alternative source for the acquisition of altimeter data. In addition to multi-echo laser scanner systems, full-waveform systems are able to record the whole backscattered signal for each emitted laser pulse. These data provide more information about the structure and the physical properties of the surface. This paper is focused on the classification of full-waveform lidar and airborne image data on urban scenes. Random forests are used since they provide an accurate classification and run efficiently on large datasets. Moreover, they provide measures of variable importance for each class. This is crucial to analyze the relevance of each feature for the classification of urban scenes. Random Forests provide more accurate results than Support Vector Machines with an overall accuracy of 95.75%. The most relevant features show the contribution of lidar waveforms for classifying dense urban scenes and improve the classification accuracy for all classes.