Flight rehearsal scene construction from LiDAR and multispectral data using ARC spatial analyst and 3D analyst

Rex, B., Fairweather, I.S. and Halligan, K.Q.

in: 2005 ESRI International User Conference, July 25-29, 2005, San Diego, California, USA

2005

HyPerspectives specializes in the collection and analysis of remotely sensed data in and around the greater Yellowstone National Park area. This region is of great interest to the military because of its similarity to the terrain and vegetation found in active theatres such as Afghanistan and the Balkans. Because of our extensive ground truth and knowledge of the local vegetation, we have been contracted to provide realistic scene construction of the Yellowstone area to be used in military low-level flight mission rehearsals. These scenes need to be as accurate as possible, right down to 3D vegetative models of shrubbery. In addition to multispectral data available from sources such AVIRIS, we have also been supplied with 3D LIDAR data from the client's recent flyover. The first step is to create a bare earth model (BEM). Next, the other data are brought in and features are identified. Once all the various data are coregistered, Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst is used to verify the registrations and construct the actual scene, including many of the supplied 3D vegetation, vehicle, building, and structure models. After the accuracy of the scene is verified, it is exported to the OpenFlight format for use in sophisticated military flight simulators.