Accounting for Atmospheric and Terrestrial Obstacles in Geographic Positioning

A method implemented in a computing system on one or more processors for identifying line-of-sight conditions in geographic positioning, the method comprising:

• receiving an image of a geographic area;
• using the one or more processors, processing the image to identify obstacles that obstruct a line of sight between (i) a receiver disposed within the geographic area substantially at a surface level and (ii) a signal source disposed above the geographic area at a level significantly higher than the surface level;
• and
• using the one or more processors, generating an obstacle map based on the identified obstacles, wherein the obstacle map indicates (i) first portions of the geographic area in which there is an unobstructed line of sight between the receiver and the signal source, and (ii) second portions of the geographic area in which the line of sight between the receiver and the signal source is obstructed.

A system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a computer-readable medium communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing a plurality of instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the system to:
• receive an image of a geographic area;
• process the image to identify obstacles that obstruct a line of sight between (i) a receiver disposed within the geographic area substantially at a surface level and (ii) a signal source disposed above the geographic area at a level significantly higher than the surface level;
• and
• generate an obstacle map based on the identified obstacles, wherein the obstacle map indicates (i) first portions of the geographic area in which there is an unobstructed line of sight between the receiver and the signal source, and (ii) second portions of the geographic area in which the line of sight between the receiver and the signal source is obstructed.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors for performing a method comprising:

• receiving an image of a geographic area;
• processing the image to identify obstacles that obstruct a line of sight between (i) a receiver disposed within the geographic area substantially at a surface level and (ii) a signal source disposed above the geographic area at a level significantly higher than the surface level;
• and
• generating an obstacle map based on the identified obstacles, wherein the obstacle map indicates (i) first portions of the geographic area in which there is an unobstructed line of sight between the receiver and the signal source, and (ii) second portions of the geographic area in which the line of sight between the receiver and the signal source is obstructed.