Systems and Methods for Rapid Alignment of Digital Imagery Datasets to Models of Structures

Abstract

Systems and methods for aligning digital image datasets to a computer model of a structure. The system receives a plurality of reference images from an input image dataset and identifies common ground control points (“GCPs”) in the reference images. The system then calculates virtual three-dimensional (“3D”) coordinates of the measured GCPs. Next, the system calculates and projects two-dimensional (“2D”) image coordinates of the virtual 3D coordinates into all of the images. Finally, using the projected 2D image coordinates, the system performs spatial resection of all of the images in order to rapidly align all of the images.

1 . A method for automatically aligning each image in a dataset to produce an aligned image dataset, comprising:
 identifying common ground control points (“GCPs”) in a plurality of reference images in a digital imagery dataset;   calculating virtual three-dimensional coordinates of the GCPs identified in the plurality of reference images;   calculating and projecting two-dimensional image coordinates of the virtual three-dimensional coordinates into each image of the dataset; and   performing spatial resection on each image in the digital imagery dataset to align each image using the projected two-dimensional image coordinates.