SBIR Phase II: Novel Algorithms for Automated 3D Building Models and 3D Street Maps

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and commercialize the first automated modeling software to create fully 3D computer models of buildings, streetscapes, and entire cities. 3D models are used extensively in the architecture/engineering (A/E), personal navigation/mapping, and government markets. However, it currently can take hundreds of hours of tedious manual tracing of laser scan or photogrammetry point clouds to create a full 3D model of a single large building. The output of this research will be a fundamental change from current CAD technology that should reduce 3D modeling time by 99%. Automating 3D model creation is a massive mathematical challenge, one that has vexed the CAD/mapping community for decades. Algorithmically accounting for the innumerable geometries of building facades and automatically creating a light-weight, accurate, fully 3D streetscape model has never before been successfully accomplished, according to all published literature. This project should be able to be the first software available that creates fully 3D, centimeter-accurate building models automatically. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is significant. The widespread availability of fully 3D city models and streetscapes will have a profound impact on the personal navigation, commercial real estate, design/construction, first responder, security, and defense industries. Although this project is high-risk due to the enormity of the algorithmic challenge, it is high reward with a commercial potential close to one billion dollars. In the A/E market alone, firms spend nearly $800 million per year on manually creating 3D building models. Successful commercialization of this research will reduce those costs by up to 99%. The project should deliver a completely innovative technology and a totally new economic equation to the marketplace - one that will spur the widespread adoption of high-resolution 3D building models and 3D streetscapes among consumers and industry alike.