Approaches to large-scale urban modeling

Large-scale urban modeling technologies use a variety of sensors and data acquisition techniques. The authors categorize current approaches and describe their advantages and disadvantages. Their survey examines current research with respect to several performance criteria including data acquisition sources, user interaction level, geometric fidelity, model completeness, and intended applications. Although modeling systems vary with respect to these criteria, data acquisition strongly influences model characteristics and usefulness. We therefore cluster the methods into those based on photogrammetry, active sensors, and hybrid sensor systems.