PhotoCloud: Interactive Remote Exploration of Joint 2D and 3D Datasets

Abstract

PhotoCloud is a real-time client-server system for interactive visualization and exploration of large datasets comprising thousands of calibrated 2D photographs of a scene and a complex 3D description of the scene. The system isn't tailored to any specific data acquisition process; it aims at generality and flexibility. PhotoCloud achieves scalability through a multiresolution dynamic hierarchical representation of the data, which is remotely stored and accessed by the client through an efficient cache system. The system includes a compact image browser and a multiresolution model renderer. PhotoCloud employs iconic visualization of the images in the 3D space and projects images onto the 3D scene on the fly. Users can navigate the 2D and 3D spaces with smooth, integrated, seamless transitions between them. A study with differently skilled users confirms PhotoCloud's effectiveness and communication power. The Web extras at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHJB2bhmgB7cmYD0ST9CEDMRv1JlX4xPH are videos demonstrating PhotoCloud, a real-time client-server system for interactive exploration of large datasets comprising 2D photos and 3D models.

Poster: Investigating viewpoint visualizations for click & go navigation

“…We also note four remarks on the users' apparent preference for blue & green (from our observations and users' comments): (1) while yellow & red provide strictly more information than blue & green (i.e., the exact extent of the camera's field of view), this information was not always needed for the given task; (2) yellow & red sometimes take up a large portion of the screen, limiting their usefulness; (3) yellow & red may appear "jumpy," while blue & green appear more fluid since they are always dynamically centered around the mouse cursor; (4) finally, yellow & red make the user more aware of the discrete set of available cameras, which, unless specifically desired, may be considered to decrease presence.…”

“…Here, a single click takes the user to a new viewpoint; thus the new viewpoint has to be derived from an input with only 2 degrees of freedom (DoF). These interfaces are used in tools such as Google Street View, Microsoft's Photosynth (based on Photo Tourism [4]), and PhotoCloud [1]. Our interest in this class of interfaces stems from two reasons.…”

Delivering and using 3D models on the web: are we ready?

“…A future goal is to go beyond the consolidated 3D graphics approach (just store and use the 3D media). This means designing and developing technologies able to link different media or to present them in a coordinated or integrated manner (Snavely, Seitz, & Szeliski, 2006;Brivio et al, 2013;Messaoudi, Manuel, Gattet, De Luca, & Véron, 2014;Leoni et al, 2015;Potenziani et al, 2015). …”

Building an IT platform for strategic crisis management preparation

“…A class of solutions, named Image Based Rendering (IBR), aims at using images to "trick" the user in believing he/she is watching a 3D scene [23], [24]. Spatially indexed photographic imagery, popularized by Internet systems such as Google StreetView and Bing Maps StreetSide, can be considered as examples of IBR, as well as Photosynth [25] or Photocloud [26]. The advantage of these methods is that there is not actual light simulation and therefore are amenable to be implemented on low powered devices.…”