Creation of Three-dimensional Crop Maps based on Aerial Stereoimages

Geographical information systems (GIS) are currently migrating from two dimensions (2D) to three dimensions (3D). A three-dimensional representation of a field scene can improve the presentation of crop information in GIS and also provide more information for controlling autonomous operations inside agricultural fields. This research investigated the use of a compact stereocamera mounted on a remote-controlled helicopter to acquire stereoimages of a maize field and represent the crop information in a 3D crop map. In this 3D crop map generation method, individual images were fused in a global map by transforming image space coordinates into global East–North coordinates. A global positioning system (GPS) receiver and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) were used to record position and orientation data for every stereoimage. This paper presents a general methodology for creating 3D crop maps based on the information gathered with a stereoscopic camera, an inertial sensor and a GPS receiver to represent more informative crop status.