Automatic 360° Mono-Stereo Panorama Generation Using a Cost-Effective Multi-Camera System

In recent years, 360° videos have gained the attention of researchers due to their versatility and applications in real-world problems. Also, easy access to different visual sensor kits and easily deployable image acquisition devices have played a vital role in the growth of interest in this area by the research community. Recently, several 360° panorama generation systems have demonstrated reasonable quality generated panoramas. However, these systems are equipped with expensive image sensor networks where multiple cameras are mounted in a circular rig with specific overlapping gaps. In this paper, we propose an economical 360° panorama generation system that generates both mono and stereo panoramas. For mono panorama generation, we present a drone-mounted image acquisition sensor kit that consists of six cameras placed in a circular fashion with optimal overlapping gap. The hardware of our proposed image acquisition system is configured in such way that no user input is required to stitch multiple images. For stereo panorama generation, we propose a lightweight, cost-effective visual sensor kit that uses only three cameras to cover 360° of the surroundings. We also developed stitching software that generates both mono and stereo panoramas using a single image stitching pipeline where the panorama generated by our proposed system is automatically straightened without visible seams. Furthermore, we compared our proposed system with existing mono and stereo contents generation systems in both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, and the comparative measurements obtained verified the effectiveness of our system compared to existing mono and stereo generation systems.

Use of Digital and 3D Visualisation Technology in Planning for Woodland Expansion

<p>Forests and woodlands offer many benefits to people. They can provide timber and food, store carbon to help deal with the effects of climate change, decrease flooding and soil erosion, and provide recreation for people and habitat for a multitude of species we care to conserve. Scottish forests cover roughly 19% of the country. The Scottish government has the ambition to add several thousand hectares a year over the next decades, to support the rural economy, the environment, and communities. It is important that a substantial proportion of the expansion is made up by native trees and shrub species due to better habitat for wildlife.</p><p>These challenges were explored with a case study of virtual forest landscape from Cairngorms National Park (CNP) which was used to test preferences for scenarios of future woodland expansion. Spatial Multi-criteria Analysis (sMCA) has been applied to decide where to plant new forests and woodlands, recognizing a range of land-use objectives while acknowledging concerns about possible conflicts with other uses of the land. The tools used in the development and implementation of the 3D model were PC and Mobile based, and enable the incorporation of interactive functionality for manipulating features. Model inputs comprise 5m DTM, 25cm Aerial Imagery, 3D Tree Species, GIS layers of Current Forest and Woodland Expansion inside CNP. Afforestation animation has been attached in Google My Maps. This is through setting different keyframes by storyboard camera path animation around the area of CNP. Stereo panorama has been applied to selection of woodland expansion scenarios (e.g. Broadleaved potential corridors, Conifer potential corridors)<strong>, </strong>which is viewed with mobile technology and Virtual Reality (VR) equipment.</p><p>The 3D model with simulation of woodland expansion was used at the event of 2019 Royal Highland Show and European Forest Institute Annual Conference 2019. Audience feedback suggested the enhancement of user interaction through VR has potential implications for the planning of future woodland to increase the effectiveness of their use and contribution to wider sustainable ecosystems.</p>