Dense Point Cloud
Definition
A set of millions of three-dimensional coordinate points, each with an RGB colour derived from the photographs, that together represent the surface geometry of the recorded scene.
- Composition
- Millions of 3D coordinate points
- Attribute per point
- RGB colour from source photographs
- Source
- Photogrammetric photo processing
Common questions
How does a dense point cloud differ from the sparse point cloud generated earlier in photogrammetry?+
The sparse cloud comes from initial feature matching across photos and contains far fewer points used mainly for camera alignment, while the dense cloud is computed afterward to fill in surface detail at a much higher point density.
What is a dense point cloud typically converted into for scene reconstruction?+
It is usually meshed into a textured 3D surface model, which investigators and courts can then view, measure, and navigate as a virtual reconstruction of the recorded scene.
Related terms
- Ground Control Point (GCP)
- A physical marker in the scene whose three-dimensional coordinates have been measured independently by total station or GPS. Assigning those coordinates to...
- Orthophoto
- A geometrically corrected aerial or close-range photograph from which the distortions caused by camera tilt and terrain relief have been removed, so...
- Reprojection Error
- The distance in pixels between where the photogrammetry software predicts a feature point should appear in each photograph (based on its estimated...
- Structure-from-Motion (SfM)
- A photogrammetric technique in which overlapping images from a drone or camera, processed by software, generate a three-dimensional point cloud and textured...
- Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS)
- A ground-based 3D LIDAR survey instrument that captures millions of range measurements per scan to produce a millimetre-accurate point cloud of the...