Method for RPC refinement by means of a corrective 3D rotation

Abstract

The invention relates to computer-implemented method for the 3D reconstruction of a ground surface area by stereophotogrammetry, comprising the steps of: determining corrected Rational Polynomial Camera, RPC, models by performing bundle adjustment (BA) of original RPC models each provided with an image of a set of images of the ground surface area acquired by a remote imaging sensor and each associated to a corresponding original projection function ({Pm}) from a 3D object space to a 2D image space, wherein determining the corrected RPC models comprises determining corrected projection functions ({Pmcor}) from the 3D object space to the 2D image space; and determining (PC) a 3D point cloud representative (3DPC) of the ground surface area by triangulation, based on the corrected RPC models, of stereo correspondences within images of the set of images. In accordance with the invention, determining the corrected projection functions comprises determining, for each of the original projection function, a 3D corrective rotation around a remote imaging sensor center to be applied in the 3D space before performing the original projection function.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.