Crowdsourced 3D Model Generation for Location-Based Experiences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for creating and sharing location-based experiences are limited in accuracy, realism, and interaction, particularly for indoor and lesser-known locations, and lack the ability to update environments in real-time, with existing methods relying on dedicated vehicles and lacking crowd-sourced data.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing mobile devices with cameras and metadata to capture images and location data, processed by an image processing server to build 3D models and panoramas, which can be shared and viewed from any perspective, with the option to add advertisements and product placement based on context and user information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If dedicated vehicles are used to capture images along major streets, then image coverage of major arteries is improved, but accessibility to indoor locations and lesser-known areas deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables ordinary users to capture and contribute images using their own mobile devices, eliminating the need for dedicated acquisition vehicles. Users self-serve by taking photos and automatically uploading them with location data to the platform, thereby expanding coverage to areas inaccessible to vehicles including indoor locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform serves multiple functions: it captures images from various sources (dedicated vehicles, aircraft, and crowd-sourced mobile devices), processes them into 3D models, and provides access through multiple interfaces. This multi-functional approach enables comprehensive coverage of both major streets and lesser-known locations.
2Measurement precision
If crowd-sourced images are collected from multiple users, then environment accuracy and feature richness are improved, but data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as an intermediary that automatically receives, processes, and integrates images from multiple mobile devices. It performs coordinate system transformations, stitches images together, and generates 3D models without requiring direct complex interactions between users' devices, thereby managing data processing complexity centrally.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified 3D model representations (copies) of complex environments from multiple source images. These 3D models serve as manageable data structures that preserve environmental accuracy while being easier to store, process, and distribute than the original large volume of raw images.
3Reliability
If real-time image processing is implemented, then environment currency is improved, but processing time and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic processing where images are collected over time and processed in batches rather than requiring immediate real-time processing of each image. This approach maintains environment currency by regularly updating the 3D models while avoiding the excessive resource consumption of continuous real-time processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary processing steps automatically as images are uploaded, including basic validation and metadata extraction. This preliminary action prepares the data for subsequent more intensive processing, reducing the overall processing time when full 3D model updates are performed.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for capturing a location based experience at an event including a plurality of mobile devices having a camera employed near a point of interest to capture random, crowdsourced images and associated metadata near said point of interest. In a preferred form, the images include depth camera information from prepositioned devices around the point of interest during the event. A network communicates images, depth information, and metadata to build a 3D model of the region, preferably with the location of contributors known. Users connect to this experience platform to view the 3D model from a user selected location and orientation and to participate in experiences with, for example, a social network.