An automated system for the creation of an urban infrastructure 3D model using image processing techniques

Image database creation for infrastructure management is an interdisciplinary endeavor in computer vision, database, and structural engineering. In response to increasing demands for multimedia information in infrastructure management, image databases are becoming an ever more active research area. This paper proposes an automated system for creating an urban infrastructure 3D model using an image database; the system is built by images shot in public areas to record changes of urban infrastructure in three-dimensional (3D) space, such as the addition of new buildings, new overpasses, loss of traffic signs, and growth/change of trees. The system architecture is presented with an emphasis on a 3D information capture and extraction module. Initial experiments with the 3D information capture module show that the proposed system has the potential to efficiently develop a large-scale 3D model of the streets of a municipality.