Fully automated segmentation of 2D and 3D mobile mapping data for reliable modeling of surface structures using deep learning

Maintenance and expansion of transport and communications infrastructure requires ongoing construction work on a large scale. To plan and execute these in the best possible way, up-to-date and highly detailed digital maps are needed. For example, until recently, telecommunication companies have performed documentation and mapping of as-built urban structures for construction work manually and with great time expense. Mobile mapping systems offer a solution for documenting urban environments fast and mostly automated. In consequence, large amounts of recorded data emerge in short time, creating the need for automated processing and modeling of these data to provide reliable foundations for digital planning in reasonable time. We present (a) a procedure for fully automated processing of mobile mapping data for digital construction planning in the context of nationwide broadband network expansion and (b) an in-depth study of the performance of this procedure on real-world data. Our multi-stage pipeline segments georeferenced images and fuses segmentations with 3D data, which allows exact localization of surfaces and objects, which can then be passed via interface, e.g., to a geographic information system (GIS). The final system is able to distinguish between similar looking surfaces, such as concrete and asphalt, with a precision between 80% and 95%, regardless of setting or season.