Extracting Building Footprints from LiDAR and Aerial Imagery in the Wildland Urban Interface:

Catastrophic fires in the wildland urban interface (WUI) have led to the destruction of many homes in recent years. Consequently, there is an effort to map, model, and protect these areas from wildland fire. The extraction of building information from remotely sensed data has shown potential to automate some of these efforts. This study compares several methods of extracting building footprints using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data as well as a combination of LiDAR data and color aerial imagery. The various methods are discussed and accuracy assessments of the methods utilized are presented. In addition, limitations of the examined methods are described along with the challenges encountered when applying these methods to large diverse landscapes. Finally, directions for future research relating to building information extraction are identified.

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Extracted Building Footprints and Tree Stem Locations in Worley, Idaho