The Taub Faculty of Computer Science Events and Talks

Maps of the world around us are used daily for many purposes such as navigation or location-based services. However, our experience with maps is usually limited to a 2D top-down projection. Using a 3D map instead have some advantages, such as easier navigation and orientation, more realistic modeling and simulation of natural phenomena such as water flow or line-of-sight analysis, and better understanding of the elevation differences. In this talk, we will present a few methods that can provide us with better 3D maps: - Augmentation of 2D road interchanges to 3D using GPS traces recorded while driving. - Refinement and amelioration of digital terrain models (DTMs) using GPS traces recorded in the area. - Estimating buildings' elevations using the accelerometers and magnetometers in smart-phones. We demonstrate these methods based on the map of the OpenStreetMap project, with the results visualized in 3D (http://osm3d.cs.technion.ac.il/). This talk summarizes the M.Sc. research of the speaker under the supervision of Prof. Gershon Elber.