Urban accessibility diagnosis from mobile laser scanning data

In this paper we present an approach for automatic analysis of urban accessibility using 3D point clouds. Our approach is based on range images and it consists in two main steps: urban objects segmentation and curbs detection. Both of them are required for accessibility diagnosis and itinerary planning. Our method automatically segments facades and urban objects using two hypotheses: facades are the highest vertical structures in the scene and objects are bumps on the ground on the range image. The segmentation result is used to build an urban obstacle map. After that, the gradient is computed on the ground range image. Curb candidates are selected using height and geodesic features. Then, nearby curbs are reconnected using Bezier curves. Finally, accessibility is defined based on geometrical features and accessibility standards. Our methodology is tested on two MLS databases from Paris (France) and Enschede (The Netherlands). Our experiments show that our method has good detection rates, is fast and presents few false alarms. Our method outperforms other works reported in the literature on the same databases. (C) 2013 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc (ISPRS) Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.