Webcams in context: web interfaces to create live 3D environments

  • Authors:
  • Austin D. Abrams;Robert B. Pless

  • Affiliations:
  • Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA;Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the international conference on Multimedia
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

Web services supporting deep integration between video data and geographic information systems (GIS) empower a large user base to build on popular tools such as Google Earth and Google Maps. Here we extend web interfaces designed explicitly for novice users to integrate streaming video with 3D GIS, and work to dramatically simplify the task of retexturing 3D scenes from live imagery. We also derive and implement constraints to use corresponding points to calibrate popular pan-tilt-zoom webcams with respect to GIS applications, so that the calibration is automatically updated as web users adjust the camera zoom and view direction. These contributions are demonstrated in a live web application implemented on the Google Earth Plug-in, within which hundreds of users have already geo-registered streaming cameras in hundreds of scenes to create live, updating textures in 3D scenes.