On Modelling and Visualisation of High Resolution Virtual Environments Using Lidar Data

Modern airborne laser scanners (ALS) and digital cameras provide new opportunities to acquire detailed remote sensing data of the natural environment. This type of data is very suitable as the basis for the construction of high fidelity 3D virtual environment models. There are many applications requiring such models, both civilian and military, e.g. crisis management, decision support systems, virtual tourism, visual simulation, etc. To support these applications, new methods for processing ALS and camera data, extracting geographic information, and supporting virtual environment modelling are needed. In this paper we will outline some recent development on new methods for processing of ALS data. The long term goal of this research is the development of methods for automated extraction of geographic information from high resolution ALS and camera data to support the construction of high-fidelity 3D virtual environment models.