System and method of highly-scalable mapping and 3D terrain modeling with aerial images

A specialized computer system for generating a 3D model of a geographic region, the system including at least one specialized processor for executing instructions that when executed perform:

• an interface function for receiving a designation of a geographic region and a designated number of available aircraft;
• a partitioning function for partitioning the geographic region into a plurality of sub-regions;
• a waypoint generation function for creating a plurality of waypoints within each of the plurality of sub-regions;
• a mission creation function for creating a plurality of missions and assigning each mission to at least one of the available aircraft;
• the missions comprising instructions to fly to each of the plurality of waypoints and capture a plurality of images;
• a communication function for retrieving the plurality of images from each of the aircraft that were assigned a mission, transmitting instructions and images between components in the specialized computer system;
• an image assignment function for assigning each image to a sub-region;
• a 3D reconstruction function for performing 3D reconstruction on images from each sub-region;
• an orthophoto generation function for generating orthophotos and 3D models for each sub-region;
• an orthophoto merging function for merging the orthophotos and 3D models from each sub-region into a 3D model of the geographic region;
• storing the 3D model of the geographic region in a data storage medium;
• and
• displaying the 3D model of the geographic region on a visual display device.