Automatic segmentation of LiDAR point cloud data at different height levels for 3D building extraction

Abstract

This paper presents a new LiDAR segmentation technique for automatic building detection and roof plane extraction. First, it uses a height threshold, based on the digital elevation model it divides the LiDAR point cloud into “ground” and “non-ground” points. Then, starting from the maximum LiDAR height, and decreasing the height at each iteration, it looks for points to form planar roof segments. At each height level, it clusters the points based on the distance and finds straight lines using the points. The nearest coplanar point to the midpoint of each line is used as a seed point and the plane is grown in a region growing fashion. Finally, a rule-based procedure is followed to remove planar segments in trees. The experimental results show that the proposed technique offers a high building detection and roof plane extraction rates while compared to other recently proposed techniques.