Local recognition of Tits geometries of classical type

A method, based on Tits' work and involving an idea of M. Ronan, is developed in order to recognize certain geometries which are locally buildings of classical type as quotients of buildings. Two applications are treated in detail showing that every finite nearly classical near polygon must be a dual polar space and that in the finite case of Cooperstein's theorem characterizing geometries of Lie type D n , the hypotheses can be weakened considerably.