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US 12,592,036 B2Granted
Blending elevation data into a seamless heightfield
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorDuncan Murray Lawler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to methods, devices, and systems for blending geographic data when combining geographic data sources. The methods, devices, and systems identify a blend region for transitioning between a first dataset and a second dataset. The methods, devices, and systems extrapolate geographic data from the second dataset to blend with the geographic data from the first dataset to create blended elevation data in the blend region. The methods, devices, and systems may generate an image for a geographic region with the first set of geographic data, the second set of geographic data, and the blended elevation data.
Claims20
A method for blending elevation data, comprising:
- receiving a first dataset with a first set of elevation data for a geographic area;
- receiving a second dataset with a second set of elevation data for the geographic area;
- determining a distance for a blend region for transitioning between the first dataset and the second dataset, wherein a length of the distance is based on a difference between resolutions of the first dataset and the second dataset, and wherein the blend region includes a combined set of datapoints based on a first set of datapoints from the first dataset and a second set of datapoints from the second dataset;
- generating extrapolated elevation data from the second set of elevation data using the combined set of datapoints in the blend region by:
- generating a ray from a first datapoint from the first set of datapoints to a nearest datapoint from the second set of datapoints;
- extending the ray from the nearest datapoint to an additional datapoint within the second set of datapoints;
- determining a general slope value by computing an elevation difference between a first elevation value for the nearest datapoint and a second elevation value for the additional datapoint;
- and
- using the general slope value as the extrapolated elevation data for the first datapoint;
- applying a blend function to blend the extrapolated elevation data for datapoints in the blend region with the first set of elevation data to generate blended elevation data in the blend region;
- and
- generating an image with the blended elevation data for the geographic area, and one or more of the first set of elevation data, and the second set of elevation data.
9 more elements
A method for blending geographic data, comprising:
- receiving a first dataset with a first set of geographic data for a geographic area;
- receiving a second dataset with a second set of geographic data for the geographic area, wherein the second dataset with the second set of geographic data provides less coverage of the geographic area than the first set of geographic data;
- creating a blend region outside of the second set of geographic data for the geographic area, wherein the blend region includes a combined set of datapoints based on a first set of datapoints from the first dataset and a second set of datapoints from the second dataset;
- generating extrapolated geographic data from the second set of geographic data for the combined set of datapoints in the blend region by:
- generating a ray from a first datapoint from the first set of datapoints to a nearest datapoint from the second set of datapoints;
- extending the ray from the nearest datapoint to an additional datapoint within the second set of datapoints;
- determining a general slope value by computing an elevation difference between a first elevation value for the nearest datapoint and a second elevation value for the additional datapoint;
- and
- using the general slope value as the extrapolated geographic data for the first datapoint;
- applying a blend function to blend the extrapolated geographic data for datapoints in the blend region with the first set of geographic data to generate blended geographic data in the blend region;
- and
- generating an image with the first set of geographic data, the second set of geographic data, and the blended geographic data for the geographic area.
9 more elements
A method for blending geographic data, comprising:
- receiving a first dataset with a first set of geographic data for a geographic area;
- receiving a second dataset with a second set of geographic data for the geographic area, wherein the first dataset and the second dataset are obtained at different time periods;
- creating a blend region on an area in the geographic area wherein the first dataset and the second dataset for the geographic area are discontinuous, wherein the blend region includes a combined set of datapoints based on a first set of datapoints from the first dataset and a second set of datapoints from the second dataset;
- generating extrapolated geographic data from the second set of geographic data for the combined set of datapoints in the blend region by:
- generating a ray from a first datapoint from the first set of datapoints to a nearest datapoint from the second set of datapoints;
- extending the ray from the nearest datapoint to an additional datapoint within the second set of datapoints;
- determining a general slope value by computing an elevation difference between a first elevation value for the nearest datapoint and a second elevation value for the additional datapoint;
- and
- using the general slope value as the extrapolated geographic data for the first datapoint;
- applying a blend function to blend the extrapolated geographic data for datapoints in the blend region with the first set of geographic data to generate blended geographic data in the blend region;
- and
- generating an image with the blended geographic data for the geographic area, and one or more of the first set of geographic data, and the second set of geographic data.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.