Immersive Trip Photo Visualization via 3D Terrain Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional photograph display methods fail to provide an immersive experience of a trip environment, as they only showcase a few selected images, losing the sense of presence and spatial relationships within the landscape.
Innovation Solution
Generating immersive trip photograph visualizations by aligning selected photographs with a three-dimensional terrain model, using structure from motion techniques and digital elevation data to create a fly-through view that includes both selected and synthetic data, allowing users to explore the trip route from a first-person perspective.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If only a handful of selected photographs are displayed to friends and family, then the curation process is simplified and presentation is easier, but the feeling of presence and spatial relationships are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from displaying photographs in traditional two-dimensional formats (prints, slides, digital images) to immersing viewers in a three-dimensional virtual environment. The fly-through view navigates through a 3D reconstructed landscape, allowing viewers to experience spatial relationships and presence that were lost in conventional 2D presentations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the physical trip environment by reconstructing the three-dimensional terrain model from captured photographs. This virtual replica preserves the spatial context and landscape features, allowing viewers to explore the trip location remotely without being physically present.
2Loss of information
If many photographs are displayed to convey the extensive natural environment, then the sense of presence and spatial relationships are improved, but the computing device resources are inefficiently used
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the trip experience into discrete photograph captures taken at different locations along the path. Each photograph serves as a data point for reconstructing the overall three-dimensional terrain model, allowing the system to build a comprehensive spatial representation from individual image segments rather than requiring continuous video or excessive imagery.
Solution Approach 2:
By reconstructing a three-dimensional terrain model from two-dimensional photographs, the system efficiently encodes spatial context and environmental extent in a compact 3D structure. This allows the comprehensive representation of extensive natural environments without requiring proportional increases in data volume or processing resources.
3Loss of information
If discarded photographs are used for visualization, then more complete coverage of the trip environment is achieved, but the processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs multiple functions simultaneously: discarded photographs that were originally intended to be deleted are repurposed as valuable data sources for reconstructing the three-dimensional terrain model. The same images provide both memory preservation and spatial context reconstruction, eliminating waste and maximizing the utility of captured data.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the trip environment using structure from motion techniques applied to discarded photographs. This virtual reconstruction extracts spatial and environmental information from images that would otherwise be discarded, transforming low-value data into high-value spatial context without requiring additional photography.
Data Source
AI summary
A user selects a set of photographs from a trip through an environment that he or she desires to present to other people. A collection of photographs, including the set of photographs captured during the trip optionally augmented with additional photographs obtained from another collection, are combined with a terrain model (e.g., a digital elevation model) to extract information regarding the geographic location of each of the photographs within the environment. The collection of photographs are analyzed, considering their geolocation information as well as the photograph content to register the photographs relative to one another. This information for the photographs is compared to the terrain model in order to accurately position the viewpoint for each photograph within the environment. A presentation of the selected photographs within the environment is generated that displays both the selected photographs and synthetic data filled in beyond the edges of the selected photographs.