An automatic building reconstruction method: A structural approach using high resolution satellite images

We present an automatic 3D city model of dense urban areas from HR satellite data. The proposed method is developed using a structural approach: we construct complex buildings by merging simple parametric models with rectangular ground footprint. To do so, an automatic building extraction method based on marked point processes is used to provide rectangular building footprints. A collection of 3D parametric models is defined in order to be fixed onto these building footprints. A Bayesian framework including both prior knowledge of models and their interactions, and a likelihood fitting them to the Digital Elevation Model, is then used. A simulated annealing scheme allows to find the configuration which maximizes the posterior density of the Bayesian expression.