Software Tools for Modeling Urban Details

The overall objective of this work is to provide the Army with a superb software tool for the creation of 3D urban models. This software tool will be easy to use, accurate, and provides photo realistic results. This tool will be able to make use of a mixture of possible existing input data sources (multiple resolution digital elevation data (DTED 1 to DTED 5), various scales of Digital Elevation Models (DEM's) and maps, existing CAD drawings (2D and 3D). And furthermore, it will be able to effectively blend images from various sources (e.g. hand held digital (cell phone), aerial, archive stills, video (UAV, news coverage, etc.), and even satellite imagery. Automated image processing and model generation will be supported as much as possible but a simple GUI over-ride will be primary focus: this is due to the recognition that automated image processing algorithms work well only with "good data" - something that is not available for all mission requirements.