AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN LIDAR DATA STRIPS - USING THE CONTOUR TREE AND ITERATIVE CLOSEST POINT ALGORITHM

To adjust the discrepancy between Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) strips, previous researches generally have been conducted using conjugate features, which are called feature-based approaches. However, irrespective of the type of features used, the adjustment process relies upon the existence of suitable conjugate features within the overlapping area and the ability of employed methods to detect and extract the features. These limitations make the process complex and sometimes limit the applicability of developed methodologies because of a lack of suitable features in overlapping areas. To address these drawbacks, this paper presents a methodology using area-based algorithms. This approach is based on the scheme that discrepancies make complex the local height variations of LIDAR data whithin overlapping area. This scheme can be helpful to determine an appropriate transformation for adjustment in the way that minimizes the geographical complexity. During the process, the contour tree (CT) was used to represent the geological characteristics of LIDAR points in overlapping area and the Iterative Closest Points (ICP) algorithm was applied to automatically determine parameters of transformation. After transformation, discrepancies were measured again and the results were evaluated statistically. This research provides a robust methodology without restrictions involved in methods that employ conjugate features. Our method also makes the overall adjustment process generally applicable and automated.