Simplification of data for representing an environment via the expansion of polyhedrons that define structures represented in the data

A method for determining visibility between points in a geographic region in which buildings are present, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a data-processing system, a first dataset that is representative of a first building that is defined by a first polyhedron having a first polygon footprint, wherein the first dataset is characterized as having a predetermined error;
• expanding, by the data-processing system, i) the first polygon footprint, in part by moving a first vertex of the first polygon footprint based on a vector sum of the outward normals of adjacent edges of the first vertex, resulting in a first expanded polygon footprint, and ii) a second polygon footprint, resulting in a second expanded polygon footprint, wherein the amount by which the first vertex is moved is based on the predetermined error;
• forming, by the data-processing system, a third polygon footprint based on determining whether the first expanded polygon footprint and the second expanded polygon footprint in the first dataset overlap each other;
• transmitting, by the data-processing system to an application engine, a second dataset that comprises a second polyhedron and excludes the first polyhedron, wherein the second polyhedron has a footprint that comprises the third polygon footprint, and wherein the second polyhedron defines the first building in the geographic region, and wherein at least some faces of the second polyhedron define outer walls of the first building;
• calculating, by the application engine, visibility between two points in the geographic region that are represented in the second dataset, by determining whether any of the at least some faces of the second polyhedron obstruct a line-of-sight line between the two points;
• and
• presenting, to a user, a result that is based on the visibility calculated.

A method for determining visibility between points in a geographic region in which buildings are present, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a data-processing system, a first dataset representative of one or more buildings that are defined by i) a first polyhedron having a first polygon footprint and ii) a second polyhedron having second polygon footprint, wherein the first dataset is characterized as having a predetermined error;
• expanding, by the data-processing system, the first polygon footprint and the second polygon footprint by a factor that is based on the predetermined error, resulting in first and second expanded polygon footprints, respectively;
• forming, by the data-processing system, a third polyhedron based on determining whether the first and second expanded polygon footprints overlap each other, wherein the third polyhedron defines a first building in the geographic region, and wherein at least some faces of the third polyhedron define outer walls of the first building;
• transmitting, by the data-processing system to an application engine, a second dataset that i) comprises the third polyhedron and ii) excludes the first and second polyhedrons;
• calculating, by the application engine, visibility between two points in the geographic region that are represented in the second dataset, by determining whether any of the at least some faces of the third polyhedron obstruct a line-of-sight line between the two points;
• and
• presenting, to a user, a result that is based on the visibility calculated.